Fool Me Twice, Shame on Me
by paulacole
Summary: Daniel and Samantha are forced into an offworld marriage, and things go downhill from there. SamDan pairing
1. Chapter 1

Fool Me Twice, Shame on Me 

Samantha and Daniel are forced into an offworld marriage, and things go downhill from there. Not episode specific. Thanks to Meriem Clayton, who's 'I Did Say I Do' gave me the idea for this fic… call it even for Keeping up Appearances 

_And I am in no way affiliated with MGM, the SciFi channel or anyone affiliated with Stargate. If I were, I'd be writing scripts, not fanfiction. I write for my own pleasure and anyway, I'm a poverty-stricken student, it's not worth suing me over._

Chapter One 

Colonel Samantha Carter just _knew_ as soon as they set foot on P4X-261 that it was going to be a bad trip. The first people they ran into – men, no less – reminded her of the Mongolesque tribes they had encountered early in her experience with the Stargate program. Samantha would never forget one of them in particular, Turghan, for as long as she lived. Talk about archaic…

She was reminded of Turghan when she met these men. A group of them greeted them near the Stargate, apparently having been informed that the giant circle had been activated and people had come through.

They had taken one look at Samantha, shared a Look between them, and proceeded to talk in the general direction of the men. They spoke something resembling English so, not needing Daniel to translate, Jack took charge of the situation.

"I am Macah," the older, most heavily decorated man said – presumably the leader. "Do you always travel with your women?"

After the trouble they'd gotten into with Turghan, that should have been their cue to turn back around and come back with an all-male team, to hell with feminism – feminism hadn't made any headway on some planets. But Jack was itching to get hold of some Naquada, which initial reports said the planet was reeking with. It seemed the best thing to do was keep an eye on things and hope Samantha didn't rile these men up too much.

"Major Carter is a valuable member of our team," Jack said in a neutral voice. That seemed to be the end of it, although the men of P4X-261 would have nothing to do with Samantha, beyond sending her outraged looks, like how dare a woman act like a man? Samantha ignored it and spent a lot of time with Daniel, who was much more sympathetic to her discomfort. Samantha didn't complain much about some of the blatantly sexist attitudes she'd come across in the universe – it was just part of the job, and the only real alternative was to not go offworld – and that, in Samantha's opinion, was no alternative at all.

Still, Jack could be a little more sympathetic – and a little more supportive, rather then looking like he was chewing at the bit to get hold of his damn Naquada. So, instead, Samantha chose to hang out with Daniel, who was a lot more sensitive to these things.

"You could start an intergalactic feminist movement," Daniel pointed out.

Samantha stuck her tongue out at him. It was childish, but they were way beyond formalities. "Don't tempt me," she said darkly. If only it wasn't for that stupid 'leave things as you found them' regulation, particularly regarding civilisations that had made it clear they didn't want to be changed. Well, sometimes people didn't know what was best for them.

Things were going well – as well as could be, given Samantha clearly wasn't welcome – until Samantha slipped and fell badly several feet down a hill she and Daniel had been navigating. She cried out as she landed. The rock scrapping sounds that went with it didn't sound good to Daniel. As quickly as he could, he rushed to Samantha's side and pulled her into a sitting position against him. "Are you OK?" he asked pointlessly. A fall like that _had_ to have caused some pain. "C'mon, Sam," he added, "you don't have to pretend with me." He knew she did her best to appear stoic in the face of pain in front of military types, but over the years he'd broken down some of her reserve so she could admit to pain – in front of him alone – sometimes.

She smiled weakly. She would never admit it, of course, but she liked that she could admit to Daniel when it hurt and he wouldn't think less of her. "Back hurts," she said. "I think I scraped it."

He helped her to a flat part of ground where he could look her over without the threat of sliding further down the hill. She leaned into him comfortably, glad to have his support, even if she wouldn't admit it.

She didn't object when he ran his hands over her ribs, checking for anything broken – but she tried to deny to herself the slightly giddy feeling that washed through her body when Daniel ran his hands on her. "Any sharp pain, like a broken rib?" he asked sympathetically.

She shook her head and was a little disappointed when Daniel removed his hands. It wasn't often that they were in such close proximity when it wasn't a life-or-death situation and it was a strange, pleasant sensation.

But of course it was terribly inappropriate.

"No," she said , " But I think I scraped my back pretty badly."

Dutifully, Daniel shifted around Samantha so he was facing her back and helped her out of her jacket, which was looking much worse for wear after its trip down a rocky hill. It would have been more convenient to have her take her shirt off, but Daniel didn't dare ask such a thing, especially not in this environment. Instead, he pulled her shirt up from the back to inspect the damage of her fall.

The small of her back was a nasty red colour, her skin badly abraded by the rough fall, and Daniel could see bits of rock imbedded in her skin. Even with his limited medical knowledge, he could see it looked worse then it was. "I can get them out," he said.

He spread out a blanket and got Samantha to lie on it, face-down. Using a pair of tweezers, he worked out the bits of rock stuck in her back until he was confident they were all out. "I think that'll be OK until we get back," Daniel said as he placed a square of gauze over her back and secured it with medical tape. Not bad for a guy with limited medical training, he thought. "In the meantime, though – " Daniel started, distracted by the sudden loud cry of indignation and horror that came from further up the hill.

Daniel and Samantha looked up to see a very outraged Macah a few meters above them, looking very indignant and very horrified. They'd offended local customs before, of course, but with this sort of reaction, particularly when there wasn't a sacred site anywhere they could have despoiled, it seemed a little over the top.

"You have acted wantonly," Macah said to Samantha, his eyes flashing dangerously. "The punishment for that is death." He directed his men to take hold of Samantha. They brushed past Daniel, who was momentarily gobsmacked by the sudden turn of events, and hoisted Samantha to her feet, a guard at either side, menacing looks on their faces.

"Wait!" Daniel called as they began to drag Samantha away. "What the hell did she do?"

"She behaved wantonly. She exposed herself to a man."

Daniel stared at Macah in disbelief. "You mean… when I was treating her wounds? She was _injured_, for Christ sakes, what was I supposed to do? Leave her in pain?" He noticed they didn't much care that he was at least equally 'to blame,' but then, that was how such societies worked. No wonder Samantha had wanted to skedaddle back to Earth.

"You should have taken her to a nurse," Macah said reproachfully, without feeling. He hadn't like Samantha from the moment he had laid eyes on her – a female warrior, really! – and had been looking for a breach in her behaviour, according to their standards at least. "In our society, women are not to be touched by any man except their husbands."

Daniel thought quickly. He could tell it would do him no good to tell Macah that their culture was different and if he wanted, they would go back straight away. Even if he could get to Jack and Teal'c before Macah saw fit to have her executed, he doubted the two of them would be able to get the better of an entire tribe of outraged men. "What if I married her?" he blurted out before he'd really thought about it. With any luck, the proposition itself would be enough and of course, once they got back to Earth they could forget about the whole incident. And never come back here.

Macah looked thoughtful. "That would be acceptable," he said after a pause, the tone in his voice making it clear that he regretted Daniel had found a way around Samantha's impending execution. He directed to his extra guards, "Bring him too."

He looked at Macah in surprise. "You mean _now_?" he asked.. This he had not counted on.

"Yes, now," Macah said firmly. "Did you think I would give you the opportunity to go back on your word once you once you went back through the ring you come from? Of course," he added haughtily, "I expect you and your group to leave tomorrow."

Couldn't come soon enough as far as Daniel was concerned. "You can't just trust us that we'll get married back home? We have different traditions concerning courtship," he half lied.

Macah looked at him witheringly. "So you can go back on your word and let a whore go unpunished?" he asked. Daniel failed to see why it was so important to him, after all, they would be gone and what Samantha did beyond that should be none of their concern. Maybe Macah thought he would be sending them to face the judgement of whatever God they worshiped or some other such unenlightened way of thinking. At any rate, there was no getting out of this marriage. And, Daniel recalled with a sinking feeling, there had been a law created – specifically to validate his marriage to Sha're, as a matter of fact – that validated any marriage offworld in according to whatever local customs. So this was not going to be something that was automatically voided by the particular customs not applying to earth.

He was just about to marry Samantha Carter. For a damn good reason, of course, but annulments were a nightmare. He made a mental note to have a word with Jack about not being so eager to get hold of Naquada when it concerned a patriarchal society. He was sure, given the consequences, Jack would agree.

It took all his diplomatic skills to be allowed to speak with Samantha without guards flanking them. "I'm sorry," he said sheepishly as they were being walked towards the main town for what Daniel assumed would be the ceremony. "I didn't know what else to say."

"It's OK," Samantha said. She was grateful for Daniel's quick-thinking. Macah had looked furious when he'd found her and Daniel 'together' – like he'd finally found a way to get rid of the woman warrior who was an affront to his culture. "You saved my life." Not for the first time it occurred to her that Daniel's way of getting out of a problem was talking, where Jack would no doubt have pulled out his gun – and have been heavily outnumbered.

"You realise this will count on earth," Daniel pointed out.

She winced. She hadn't thought of that. And of course, there would be a fair amount of people who wouldn't believe the circumstances. But it was better then being dead. The glint in Macah's eyes had scared her. Trapping her had been a real triumph for him. She was sure the method of execution for wanton whores was long and painful and probably involved something 'appropriate' to wanton whores, like a gang rape. She decided to keep that particular thought to herself. Daniel tended to use his diplomatic skills to get himself – and his friends – out of sticky situations, but she didn't know how he'd feel to think that Samantha's demise might include something so degrading.

"We'll have to get an annulment when we get back to earth," she stated the obvious. Pity Daniel wasn't still married. (What was she saying? It was his marriage to Sha're that had put that stupid law in place.) Right now bigamy was looking better then a legal marriage between her and Daniel. Not that she minded being married to him in name only for the sake of saving her life, but still… it was strange.

Why, she couldn't say exactly. Maybe because the feel of his fingers on her back, gently working out the rocks and dressing her wounds, had felt far more comfortable then they should have. Maybe because the way he smiled at her sometimes unsettled her more then it should have – and made her happier then it should have. Maybe because – she forced such thoughts out of her head. Daniel was her friend and co-worker. End of story. Daniel was as out-of-bounds at Jack was – and she and Jack had come to a silent understanding about that years ago.

They got to the main village, and Jack and Teal'c were alerted to what had happened. As predicted, Jack's first instinct was to draw his gun, but Daniel talked him out of it. Getting into a firefight when they were this outnumbered was suicidal. After all, the alternative was a token ceremony followed by a month of paperwork and a little ribbing that Daniel and Samantha were would be happy to endure to get out of here unscathed.

At least, they had thought it would be a token ceremony, but apparently P4X-261 a marriage ceremony was anything but token. Despite the fact that this was the equivalent of a shotgun wedding, the whole village turned out. Samantha was whisked away to be prepared for the ceremony. Apparently the one tradition that P4X-261 shared with earth was that the groom was more or less left to his own devices. He killed a few hours with Jack and Teal'c while there was a great hustle of wedding preparations around them.

"Why is it," Jack asked, just a little peeved that Daniel had somehow managed to contrive to marry Samantha, "that wherever we go, you manage to offend cultural sensibilities?"

"_I_ wasn't the one who got drugged with an aging nanite," Daniel pointed out. Jack could hardly talk about who had done what and where.

"No, you just slept with the Destroyer of Worlds," Jack pointed out with a smug smile. He would never let Daniel forget that once, not as long as he lived – and beyond that, really, seeing's he had actually died already.

That was the end of the conversation for a while. Then Jack offered, "You know, we could try shooting our way out of here."

Daniel glared at him pointedly. "And get ourself killed in the process? I think that's what Macah wants. No, just humour them and when Sam and I get back to earth, we'll start the process for annulment." And maybe do something about that stupid law. There had to be exceptions for cases like this – once again, Daniel would be setting a precedent.

"You sure that's your only reason for going through with this?" Jack asked, a touch of maliciousness creeping into his voice.

"What other reason would there be?" Daniel asked.

"Oh, I don't know… you wouldn't be getting cosy with Carter," Jack practically accused him.

There was something in Jack's voice that was almost _jealous_, which surprised Daniel. Had there been something between him and Samantha at some point? _Was_ there something? No, she would have told him – they were best friends, even more so then either of them with Jack. No, Jack was just thinking like a horny bastard which was what Daniel would have expected of pretty much any male in the Stargate Command. After all, who wouldn't want the opportunity to cosy up with Samantha Carter, even if only in name only? Daniel put Jack's feelings down to concern for the team. Any hint of an inappropriate relationship between team members and they would have to be split up. "I assure you, my intentions are honourable," Daniel said dryly. "The team won't be broken up."

Jack didn't seem entirely convinced but he didn't have any further opportunity to continue the conversation as Macah, followed by an older man dressed in clothes almost as regal as Macah's appeared. "We are ready for you," Macah said, a little maliciously. He had been looking forward to the punishment inflicted on wanton women before they were stoned to death, but those plans had been thwarted. Oh well, there would be others.

Daniel was led, a little roughly, into a large open room where it appeared the whole village had gathered. He was surprised at how happy they all seemed – apparently a marriage was a marriage and something to be celebrated, regardless of the circumstances. He inhaled deeply, surprised at how nervous he was. It wasn't like this was the real thing. For some reason, he found himself thinking of his late wife.

Sha're… it was the first time he'd thought of her in a while, certainly since he'd been forced into this marriage. Funny, because now that he'd thought about it, he realised it should have occurred to him before. Oh, for sure, this wasn't a 'real' marriage, but still, he should have felt guilty for betraying Sha're's memory like that. He didn't love Samantha the way he had loved Sha're and as such, shouldn't be marrying her, shouldn't be reducing the sanctity of marriage to a convenience, even if it was with the best intentions.

But that hadn't occurred to him at all. And the sentiment didn't ring true even when it _did_ occur to him. He didn't love Samantha the same way he had loved Sha're… right?

He realised his thoughts had distracted him from the ceremony, until the elder man – who Daniel deducted to be some kind of priest, or at least what passed for a celebrant in these parts of the universe – began glaring at him none-too-subtly. Daniel straightened up and paid attention, and realised the reason everyone had gone suddenly quite was because the bride had made her entrance.

It took all his powers of physical restraint (for the first time, he was grateful that years of being tortured by Apophis and other Goa'ulds had trained him to keep a blank expression no matter what he was feeling internally) not to gasp and then laugh, when he saw what Samantha was wearing. He'd occasionally commented that he'd like to see her in a dress once in a while, but this was – _ridiculous_. It wasn't so much that she was wearing a dress, but that she was wearing half a dozen, all designed to take away from her feminine figure. Daniel supposed that made sense – he recalled that in Victorian society, people were so prudish about sex that they put 'skirts' on the 'naked legs' of tables, and women were covered from head to toe, all the time. But this was ridiculous – Samantha looked like she weighed twenty kilograms more then she actually did, with layer upon layer of black clothing. Clearly, these people didn't regard black as the colour of mourning, either. Her arms and neck were completely covered by the layers of black material, and her breasts and hips were completely undistinguishable.

Looking around discreetly, Daniel realised that most of the women were dressed in similar fashion, with the younger girls and much older women in slightly more practical clothing – but only slightly. Daniel took this to mean that until they were married at least and even in public, a woman was to bare the minimal amount of flesh – he was surprised their faces remained fairly visible and that they hadn't adapted something similar to the hijab that Muslim women wore. The young girls and older women would be exempt because they weren't considered sexual beings, but all other females were and so had to cover themselves up because to reveal herself sexually to a man who was not her husband was a mortal sin, or so Daniel gathered. The more he thought about it, the more he realised how close Samantha had come to death. It sickened him that he had almost lost her, and for such a trivial, hypocritical reason, but there wasn't much he could do about it now except smile and go through with this damn ceremony.

The ceremony itself was quite short, lasting about ten minutes. The real reason the whole village had gathered was for the huge celebration that followed the ceremony. There was lots of food eaten, lots of liquids consumed – most of it alcoholic. It was the rowdiest, most alcohol-fuelled reception Daniel had ever been to, a far cry from his marriage to Sha're.

He and Samantha were seated at a table and continually brought food and drinks, encouraged to drink a particular concoction which was quite pleasant tasting – very morish. Daniel considered asking for the recipe. It was clear all that was expected of Samantha was to smile and ask her new husband for anything that she wanted.

Samantha had started off the night infuriated – at Macah, at the stuffy outfit she had to wear (hell, even Apophis had seen fit to dress his new bride in style), at the general unfairness of the situation. Even more infuriating was the fact that Ashaire, her handmaid for the night and the woman who had helped her into the seven layers of clothing she was wearing, had informed her that the only person she was allowed to speak to all night was Daniel. She vowed she would kill Jack when this was over for not being able to see what a messy situation they were walking into. He was their leader, that was supposed to be his goddamn _job_. _He_ could slave away at a month of paper work for the bloody annulment that would follow this mess.

But the longer the night wore on and the more of the pleasant-tasting drink Ashaire kept insisting she drink – something about not offending local customs, and Samantha didn't want to push her luck twice in one day – the more aware she became of the handsome, virile man sitting beside her. She had never really taken a good look at Daniel before, mostly because first he was married to Sha're, and then came her is-it-or-isn't-it involvement with Jack that Daniel had always been just a friend. It would be inappropriate to think otherwise. But for some reason, very inappropriate thoughts were creeping into her head right now. Thoughts of her and Daniel in bed. God, she was starting to get very horny and she had no idea where it had come from.

Over the course of the night, Daniel was becoming more and more aware of the beautiful woman sitting next to him. He had known her for too oolong – occasionally caught glimpses of her naked – to not remember what she looked like under those layers of clothing. He was coming up with very inappropriate thoughts about her, about what it would be like to be in bed with her. God, he was starting to get horny and he struggled to recall what exactly he had consumed in the last few hours.

Another hour and Ashaire and two other maids ushered them into what would be their room for the night. By this point Samantha had pressed herself against Daniel's side, her head resting on his shoulder ; he told himself she was tired and he was wrapping an arm around her waist to secure her. He was distracted by the feel of her against him ; they might be separated by layers and layers of clothing but he could feel her like her flesh was against his.

The room was utilitarian, with a walled-off section being the bathroom – or whatever passed for a bathroom here – and the only other thing of note in the room was the huge bed, at least one-and-a-half times the size of a King. It didn't take a genius to work out there was only one purpose for such a room.

The three women made Daniel stay outside for fifteen minutes while they helped Samantha out of all but the bottom, and most easily removed layer of clothing. They left Daniel and Samantha with a few knowing laughs and looks. They were all matrons. They were all familiar with how eager a man was to have his bride for the first time. All they had known was a society where sex was permissible only within marriage – even the most 'wanton' of women adhered to that rule – and therefor conjugal rights were a man's first priority. In their culture, it was that worst, most shameful thing that could happen to a woman that her husband did not find her desirable enough to exercise his rights as a husband on their first night of marriage. An unwanted wife was considered almost as bad as a wanton woman – the _almost_ made her means of execution somewhat more pleasant. As an insurance policy, the matrons of the planet had become adept as working out which herbs and combinations of herbs with other food and drinks – particularly alcohol – worked as aphrodisiacs.

Samantha surprised Daniel by kissing him as soon as they were alone. He was a little taken aback at first, but after not too long he started kissing her back. He realised just how much he had thought about kissing Samantha, and his fantasies weren't disappointed. He opened his mouth so he could meet her tongue with his and he savoured every feel, every taste of her. Giddiness rushed through his body and he backed up against the wall to keep his knees from buckling.

Their kisses became heated quickly and he slid his glasses to the top of his head when they became fogged up. It wasn't like he needed them anyway, the only thing he needed to see was her. God, she was so beautiful. He hadn't realised how beautiful she was before. Vaguely, he realised that there had been something in the drink they'd been given, some kind of hormone stimulator.

Smiling flirtatiously at Daniel, Samantha kissed him again and her hands were running over his body, up his arms, down his chest, pulling his shirt out of his pants to run her fingers over the bare skin of his chest and torso. He groaned in pleasure at the feel of her fingertips on his flesh, trying to ignore the warning bells that were going off distantly in his head. He grabbed her by the shoulders in a feeble attempt to stop her and, instead, ended up running his hands down her arms – even though they were covered by some thick, black material.

She had seen him in various states of undress enough times to know he was exceptionally well-built, the result of years of trying to keep up with Jack and Teal'c – or at least of not wanting to be beaten too badly by them. But she had never been turned on by a glimpse of his bare chest the way she was being turned on by the feel over it. Through the thick sleeves of her 'wedding dress,' she could feel his hands running over her arms and she liked it.

She began unbuttoning his shirt with one hand, her free hand moving southward to his crotch. She began rubbing him until she got the reaction she wanted. "Sam," Daniel groaned, automatically pressing himself into her hand like he would on any other occasion that he happened to be alone with an attractive, willing woman who was rubbing his crotch. "Oh, God, Sam… we shouldn't be doing this," he blurted out in a way that sounded more like _we should_. "I think there was something in that stuff they kept giving us."

She looked up at him, smiling seductively. Some dim part of her knew Daniel was right, but that part was being overruled by her current very powerful desire to consummate her marriage. She had never felt so horny in her life. "It can be our little secret," she suggested impishly.

That did it for the last of Daniel's restraint. His mouth came crushing down on hers in a hungry kiss. Her own restraint abandoned, she began rubbing him more vigorously until it was a matter of his wellbeing and comfort that she help him out of his pants. She wasn't disappointed with the results. Sha're had been a very lucky woman. Samantha felt a twinge of jealousy.

Daniel roamed her body freely with his hands with a boldness that would have gotten his ass well and truly kicked on any other occasion. But on this particular occasion, she responded well to his caresses, like a lover. His hands roamed under the thin shirt she was wearing to fondle her breasts. When she responded with a purr of delight – he would never have taken Samantha as a purrer – he grew more bold in his advances and snaked his free hand down underneath the thin pants she was wearing to investigate her own state of desire.

He wasn't disappointed. She gasped with pleasure when he penetrated her with his fingers and he decided that it was a complete waste for him to be using his fingers on her. He scooped her into his arms – no matter what the circumstances, he was carrying his new wife to bed – and lowered her down onto the bed. He stretched out beside her and helped her out of the thin garments she was wearing as she helped him out of his shirt so they were both naked. It was on the tip of Daniel's tongue to ask one more time was she sure she wanted to do this but when his eyes roamed over her naked body, he knew there was no way he could stop himself even if she wanted him to. And if the look in her eyes was anything to go by by – a hunger that matched his own – she most definitely did not want him to stop.

Aware of her sore back, he flipped her on top of him. God, she was beautiful. He loved the way she was looking at him, with adoration and desire. If it was possible, it made him harder.

She straddled him and he groaned at the sensation. He couldn't remember the last time he'd gotten laid and whatever stuff they'd been given wasn't helping. The first time at least was going to be quick – and they both wanted it that way.

She began to ride him hard. Although he'd groaned at first, mostly he was quiet, whimpering and straining under her, the amount of noise he was making inversely proportional to the fire that was coursing through his body. He gripped her hips hard. "Sam," he whispered her name hoarsely over and over.

Samantha had never felt so amazing in her life. Although she had never admitted to herself thinking such a thing, something had always told her sex with Daniel would be spectacular. She was something of a screamer and as Daniel began stroking her in time to her own rhythm that she was riding him with. This…was…_incredible_. She felt a swift, violent orgasm start to build up inside her and looking down at Daniel, she knew instinctively he was experiencing the same thing.

She rode him harder until she thought she would explode. He dug his fingers deeper into her flesh and thrust hard to meet her one final time…

"JACK!" Samantha cried out in an inhuman voice as she and Daniel climaxed at the same time.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

_Thanks to Meriem Clayton, who patiently Betad this chapter and doesn't mind the liberal inspiration I took from several of her own stories, which I highly recommend. In my defence, everything I've ever written has no doubt been inspired by other stories I've liked, which I'm sure many writers can related to  _

Daniel made a sound that resembled an animal caught in a trap as he automatically tried to stop himself from climaxing, to no avail. This was the most humiliating moment of his life. He had been rejected by women before in favour of tougher, stronger men, of course, but never like this. Never in the throes of passion when he was beyond any ability to pull back.

He should have known. He should have known she had a thing for Jack. He should have known through her sisterly affections. He should have known from the sisterly affection she had always shown him. He should have known from the fact that she had never come on to him before. That required an aphrodisiac. He should have known by the fact she had never come onto him before – no, it took an aphrodisiac to do that. Even then, if it had been a choice of him or Jack, he was sure she would have chosen Jack.

_Whore. Conniving bitch_. Couldn't have what she wanted so she dragged Daniel into it, took him as a substitute. Of course, like a fool, he had convinced himself that she wanted him. Convinced himself that when she had been riding him thirty seconds ago, making the sounds she had been making, that she had been thinking of him.

No, it had been Jack. It had always been Jack. Well, he had more pride then to stick around when he obviously wasn't wanted.

Violently, he pushed her off. He wanted to do more then just push her off. He wanted to tear her to pieces. He wanted to get Jack O'Neill out of her fucking head, even if that meant crushing her skull. He was deeply angry and deeply humiliated. Goddamn her lying, two-faced soul, why couldn't she have kept her damn mouth shut, or at least have given him more notice? Thirty seconds sooner and he could have stopped. It would have hurt, but it would have been better then having come inside her.

He now had a much deeper appreciation for women who said they'd been used for sex.

Samantha looked at Daniel in absolute horror, just realising what she had said. "Daniel, I'm so sorry…" she began, although in a situation like this, 'I'm sorry' doesn't really cut it. She had no idea what had come over her. One moment, she was enjoying fantastic sex with Daniel and, the next, she was calling Jack's name. She felt deeply embarrassed, but she knew that was nothing compared to how Daniel must be feeling right now.

"Shut up," he growled, pulling on his pants quickly. He didn't want to hear anything she had to say – no doubt along the lines of a miserable apology. Like there were words that could make up for the fact she'd just called him _Jack_, and at the worst possible moment for a man.

He had to get out of here. He didn't know what protocol was in this situation – although he had a feeling that husbands didn't just leave their new brides half an hour after being left alone in what passed for a honeymoon suite – and truth be told, he didn't care. This damn planet held women responsible for every little thing and if his hasty departure pissed off the traditions of this place, well, he was quite happy to have Samantha take the blame for it.

"Daniel – " she tried again desperately.

"One more word and I'll thrash you," Daniel said, his back turned towards her. His fingers lingered on the buckle of his belt and he thought about how tempting it was to take the leather strap to her. He wanted to hurt her as badly as she'd hurt him, if that was at all possible. He had to get out of here before he did something he'd regret.

Even though she couldn't see the way his eyes were alternating between flashing with anger and clouding over with hurt, Samantha knew Daniel was beyond angry. His shoulders were tensed and the swift motion he used to slip his shirt back on was violent. For a moment she was scared he would turn on her; he was angry enough. But as soon as he stormed out of the room, she was sorry he'd gone.

In a state of semi-shock, Samantha gathered the sheets around her. What the hell had come over her? It wasn't that she had accepted Daniel as some kind of substitute She _knew_ she had wanted to be with him – well, as much as she could have, given she hadn't entirely been in a position to consent. Neither had Daniel. There had _definitely_ been something in that drink they'd been given. Otherwise she would never have had sex with Daniel or with any man.

Thank God she had three-month contraception injections. All the women were given them in case of rape, but Samantha had never expected she would need one because she'd had sex with one of her team-mates. She burrowed under the covers, wishing that she could hide from the world. Oh, God, what had they just done? Vaguely she supposed it was kind of like getting drunk and then having sex you with someone you wouldn't take seriously as a lover when you were sober.

She held her head in her hands, trying to take stock of the situation. She had just had sex with Daniel. She had just called him Jack. She didn't know which one was worse. Although she was trained to be stoic and unemotional no matter how crappy the situation , this particular situation got the better of her and she started to cry.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was hard to miss Daniel barrelling down the hall looking very, very angry. Ashaire and the two junior maids didn't miss him ; immediately, their interest was piqued. It was very unusual – unheard of, in fact – for a man to leave the marriage bed so early in the evening. Something had to be wrong.

Of course, Ashaire didn't dare say anything to Daniel, even if she had been brave enough to try and intercept him, which she was not. It was inappropriate for a woman to speak to a man when she could speak to his wife. Besides, she had business to attend to with Samantha. It was the head maid's responsibility to verify that the marriage had been consummated.

Ashaire felt no need to knock before she entered, knowing that only Samantha was in the room, or, if it wasn't only Samantha, it was something Ashaire should know about.

However, Samantha was definitely not used to someone entering her room without knocking. She glared at Ashaire, thinking that would be hint enough for the woman to retreat. Apparently this planet was behind on manners as well as women's rights, because Ashaire looked completely unapologetic. "Get out," she ordered.

Ashaire took no heed of her. Now that she was aware there had been a disagreement between Daniel and Samantha, she had little sympathy for the new bride. It was a terrible thing for a husband to be so quickly angered at his bride and a transgression that the wife was held entirely responsible for – what her punishment would be was up to her husband. "You have displeased your husband?" she asked.

Samantha noticed that Ashaire was cool towards her. She figured Ashaire had seen Daniel leave and had assumed Samantha had done something wrong. The assumption annoyed her, like this whole backwards planet annoyed her. Just because she _had_ been in the wrong didn't give Ashaire, or anyone for that matter, the right to assume so. "That's none of your business," she said stiffly.

Ashaire looked quizzically at her. "Of course it's my business. My job is to verify that the marriage has been consummated."

Samantha stared at her. She _had _to be kidding. No, she wasn't kidding. This planet was _so_ backward that they checked that the marriage had been consummated. Samantha didn't know that much about history, but she had never heard of such a thing happening on Earth. These people had actually regressed to before they were transported by the Goa'uld. "And what if I say no?" Samantha asked coolly.

"Then you would clearly have something to hide, such as a lack of consummation," Ashaire said, and it was clear she considered this to be the _only_ reason – Samantha's dignity not being a factor in the argument.

"So?" Samantha couldn't resist provoking the older woman. "That's Daniel's business and mine."

Ashaire hadn't liked Samantha from the very beginning – she had acted wantonly and therefore wasn't deserving of the respect that a chaste woman would be given. Her provocation only lowered her in Ashaire's eyes. "Then that is proof of your husband's rejection on top of acting wantonly. You would be executed."

Samantha gasped in spite of herself. These people were _barbaric_. Never in the history of Earth – or at least no history that Samantha knew of – had such a low premium been placed on women, especially women who failed to meet the strict standards of chastity of desirability. Well, maybe Afganistahn in its most recent reincarnation, but that would be about it. "Get me Daniel," she ordered. Daniel might hate her right now, but he still wouldn't let her be subjected to this. It galled Samantha that she had so little say in her own body and she needed Daniel's benevolence, if he had any right now, to protect her, but it was the only thing she could thing of.

"Master Daniel has made it clear he does not wish to be with you," Ashaire said primly. She wasn't about to track down the furious man anyway. It was Samantha's own fault that he had left the marriage bed. "If you won't submit yourself to examination, I will be forced to tell Macah you were noncompliant." The consequences of that were obvious. Samantha had no choice but to let Ashaire proceed with her examination. At least, she thought, the sorry event that had transpired between her and Daniel had come to some good – a few minutes ago she'd been wishing she'd never slept with Daniel, now she was realising it may have saved her life. Maybe _that_ was why they'd been given whatever it was they'd been given. If consummation was such a big deal on this planet, then it made sense that the use of aphrodisiacs should be elevated to an art form.

Samantha wasn't exactly experienced in these things, but she was _sure_ Ashaire was being rougher then she needed to be. The woman just didn't like her – Samantha supposed that was fair enough, given that she was about two thousand years ahead of Ashaire's time. Revolutionaries are rarely appreciated in their own time. Daniel's comments about an intergalactic feminist movement came back to her – the idea was looking mighty tempting right now.

"You were not pure," Ashaire noted disapprovingly.

"You mean I wasn't a virgin? I could have told you that," Samantha snapped. "Is that a capital offence too?" If it was, she may as well go out swinging – so to speak – and say what was on her mind because nothing was going to get her out of that.

Ashaire sniffed, even more disapproving. This one just would not keep her mouth shut even when she was getting deeper and deeper into trouble. No wonder her husband had been dissatisfied with her. She was surprised – and a little disappointed – to find evidence of consummation. "That depends on your husband," she answered Samantha's question. "It is up to Master Daniel. If he is unhappy with your impure state…" her voice trailed off, and Samantha bridled at the thought. Though she seriously doubted that Daniel was _that_ angry, it wasn't fair that it should be his choice. _He_ hadn't exactly been a virgin, so what was the big deal? She gritted her teeth and vowed she was never stepping foot on this planet again.

After a few minutes of rough and very humiliating poking, Ashaire left her be, mumbling something about wanton, disrespectful women. Samantha had the urge to throw something at her. No bloody wonder this planet was so damn backwards, with women like Ashaire perpetuating the dominance of the men. The sooner she was off the planet the better.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Daniel went outside to be alone and for fresh air. He had noticed the look Ashaire had given him as he'd stormed past, but he hadn't given her the opportunity to intercept him. He'd probably broken some rule, but he didn't care. Let them talk about it. Let Samantha bear the consequences.

After a few minutes, Macah came out to join him. He had been alerted by one of the guards that Daniel had left Samantha shortly after being left alone with her – something that didn't bode well for Samantha. "You were unhappy with you new bride?" Macah asked suggestively. For a society that did its damnedest to repress sexuality, Macah was awfully suggestive about it.

"She's fine," Daniel said shortly.

"Then why are you out here and not with her?" Macah asked. The man was spiteful and a tyrant, but he was only stating the truth.

"Is that any of your business?" Daniel asked.

"It is the village's business if you are dissatisfied with your wife… and have not consummated the marriage," Macah said. "It is an offence for a woman to be rejected by her new husband… punishable by death."

Daniel rolled his eyes in the darkness. Was there _anything_ a woman could do that wasn't punishable by death? He hated Samantha right now and fifteen minutes ago he had wanted to beat the crap out of her, but he would never wish upon her death at the hands of a man like Macah. Dully he realised that it had been a good thing he and Samantha had been drugged into sleeping together, because they never would have done it of their own initiative, and if they hadn't, she would have been executed. He hated her, but he didn't want her dead.

"I assure you we consummated our marriage," he said with a touch of bitterness.

Macah looked at him suspiciously. He was not at all acting like a new husband ; that he had already left the marriage bed was testimony to that. "Ashaire will see if that's the truth or not," he declared.

Daniel stared at Macah until comprehension dawned on him. All he could think was _thank God we slept together_. He hated her, but he didn't want her dead. He couldn't believe these people were so barbaric. He couldn't wait to get out of here.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

"Enjoy your night as husband and wife?" Jack asked Daniel the next morning. He'd meant to sound teasing, but came off as a little snarky. He didn't dare say anything to Samantha, who looked very jacked off at him that he'd allowed this to happen. Yeah, well, next time they came across such a sexist society, he'd take her home and come back with an all-male team. He seemed to recall saying that when they'd run into Turghan, but that had been so long ago that it didn't count anymore.

He'd been just a little unsettled that Daniel and Samantha had spent the night together. He supposed it was fair enough. Who knew what violation of archaic law Macah would come up with if he thought Daniel and Samantha weren't properly married? But still, the idea of Samantha and Daniel spending the night together – there was something not quite right about that. He and Samantha had come to an unspoken agreement some time ago, and Samantha'sspending the night with another man right under his nose felt like a violation of that agreement.

Daniel glared at Jack. "That's not funny," he snapped. He wanted almost as little to do with Jack as he did with Samantha. Well, the minute he got back to Earth he planned on asking for a transfer so hopefully that would be possible. If Jack and Samantha had only got their damned act together like any two reasonable humans would, Daniel would never have allowed himself to fall into that trap.

He felt like no less of a prize fool today then he had last night. If anything, he felt worse. He'd had a night of wandering around the countryside to ponder the situation, and he'd only ended up feeling angrier and more humiliated then when he'd started.

"_Touché_," Jack muttered defensively. He wondered if Daniel and Samantha had had a fight. She wasn't looking too crash hot herself, like someone who hadn't got much sleep. He hoped it didn't affect his team dynamics.

Mind you, if he'd had to spent the night with someone like Samantha and not gotten laid, he'd be cranky too. At least he could understand Daniel on that level. "You need to get laid," he informed Daniel before walking off to talk to Teal'c, who was the only member of his team not looking ready to bit his head off.

Daniel realised that Jack had no idea he and Samantha had slept together which made sense. Talking about sex wasn't exactly these people's forte. They would have assumed that Jack and Teal'c knew such things happened on wedding nights without taking into account that Jack thought he knew Samantha and Daniel better then that. _Thank God you don't_, Daniel thought. For once, Jack's complete cluelessness when it came to people was a good thing, because if he had clued onto what had _really_ happened last night, Daniel doubted he'd still be here. Well, _he_ certainly wasn't going to clue Jack in.

After some minor discussions with Macah, SG-1 was free to head home. Jack took the lead and Teal'c covered them, with Samantha and Daniel in the middle. Daniel took the opportunity to talk to Samantha.

When he fell in step along side her, Samantha was relieved that he was in a better mood – he was prepared to talk to her. That had to mean he was in a better mood. Her hopes were dashed as soon as Daniel opened his mouth. "Jack doesn't know about last night," he said in a quite, cold voice that demonstrated that he'd lost none of his initial anger at her, "so I figured we should get our stories straight."

Samantha swallowed her disappointment. She hadn't expected Daniel to act as if nothing had happened, but she hadn't expected him to be so unforgiving, either. _Well, what did you expect?_ she asked herself. _You called him Jack. He's feeling humiliated._ "I take it you've already thought about it?" she asked.

"We admit to having spent the night together," Daniel said with that same quite, cold tone. "Jack knows that much so we have to admit to it. We'll say you slept on the bed and I slept on the floor."

"Why _you_ slept on the floor?" Samantha asked.

"Because that's something I would have done for you," Daniel said, emphasis on the words _would have_. "It won't matter for long anyway. I plan on asking for a transfer."

Samantha's heart caught in her throat. He wasn't serious, was he? She dared a look in his angry blue eyes. He was very serious. "_Why_?" she gasped.

"You mean _apart_ from the fact you just completely undermined my masculinity?" Daniel asked sarcastically. His voice was accusing.

"I'm sorry," Samantha said contritely. Then, "I don't want you to transfer."

"Once again, it's about what _you_ want," Daniel snarled. He couldn't believe Samantha could be so self-centred. "You should have gotten Jack to fill in for me last night," he continued bitterly. "It's not like they would have known the difference."

"I never meant to hurt you," Samantha said in a small voice. Daniel was scaring her. He was incredibly angry. His words from last night came back to her: _One more word and I'll trash you_. He'd looked angry enough then to hit her and he looked angry enough now. She supposed she'd be holding a grudge if he'd called her Sha're… The thought made her squirm uncomfortably. She would have been devastated if Daniel had called her Sha're. She was surprised at just how possessive she was of Daniel, a possessiveness that she knew, deep down, went beyond simple friendship and loyalty.

"Oh, that makes me feel _so_ much better," Daniel said sarcastically. "You didn't mean to do a lot of things, but somehow you managed to do them. Notice how every man who shows an interest in you ends up _dead_?"

It was a low blow, but unfortunately, one that had a grain of truth in it. Of course, the deaths of Narim and Martouf hadn't been her fault, but she had mourned them anyway and got herself a reputation as a black widow. Daniel had only brought it up as extra ammunition against her and it succeeded it making her feel worse then she already did. Narim, Martouf, Daniel – was it her fate to destroy the men she loved?

All the men except Jack. And she didn't even know how she felt about Jack. Oh, she loved him, in the same way she loved Daniel and Teal'c – as friends, as comrades, the kind of love that comes from saving each other's lives for years. She had thought there was something more to her relationship with Jack, but if there was, why had she felt the way she had with Daniel last night? And why was she so torn up over his threats to be transferred?

Daniel didn't give her the opportunity to say anything else ; he fell behind her, where he was supposed to be. He didn't want to speak to her anymore. The sight of her face, her voice, made him too angry. He was surprised and a little scared by the violence of his feelings. It had, after all, only been a one night stand that had ended badly. If it had been anyone but Samantha, he wouldn't be feeling the urge to crush her skull.

So why Samantha then? Why did her rejection of him have him feeling so angry, so humiliated? Vaguely he realised he had inappropriate feelings for her and that enraged him even more.

He had always been attracted to her, right from the first day they had met on Abydos. Maybe that was why Sha're had kissed him so passionately and so publicly before he'd taken the rest of the soldiers from the Stargate Command to show them the map of Stargate addresses he'd found. Maybe she'd sensed the attraction between him and Samantha and had wanted to stake her claim. He couldn't help but grin at the thought. It was somewhat soothing to his battered ego – if only momentarily – that someone had wanted him, and only him, that badly.

Yes, the attraction had always been there and, as hope of finding Sha're had faded and then been obliterated completely with her death, he had become closer to Samantha. They had been best friends – with obvious chemistry. Neither of them had done anything about it. It would have wrecked their team dynamics, but it had been there nonetheless.

If it had been Jack she'd wanted all this time, she should never have given him the slightest encouragement. She should never have smiled at him the way she had, she should never have permitted the lingering displays of affection, a caress on the cheek, a hand on the shoulder, and she should certainly have not kissed him last night, especially after he tried to slow things down. _That_ was why he was angry. She had allowed him, encouraged him even, to invest in her emotionally, and then had thrown it back in his face by calling him Jack. If she had been a stranger he'd picked up in a bar, he would have gotten over it in a few days. But that it had been Samantha, his best friend who he loved and was attracted to – he wanted to run up to her and wring her neck. He wanted to hurt her as badly as she had hurt him and he wouldn't mind taking a swing at Jack while he was at it.

That was why he was going to ask for a transfer. He couldn't work with them anymore. He could barely look at either of them without wanting to inflict bodily harm.

The four of them came through the gate looking less then happy, Daniel, because he was angry at Samantha, Samantha, because Daniel was so angry at her, and Jack, because Daniel had somehow contrived to marry and spend the night with Samantha. Even if it _had_ been to save her life, Jack still didn't like it. At least Teal'c was happy, although he was aware of the frosty relations between his three fellow team-members today.

The four of them had their debriefing meeting. They did not have much to show for their aborted mission, other then the promise of lots of Naquada. Macah had seemed open to a trading partnership, especially after Jack had explained about antibiotics and immunity shots, but he would not trade with a woman, so they would return at a later date with an all-male team. Samantha scowled at that. An intergalactic feminist movement was looking really good about now…

"Oh, and Carter and Danny-boy managed to get themselves hitched," Jack added, pretended like it had been an afterthought when he'd been mulling over it the entire meeting. He hadn't called Daniel Danny-boy in years; it had started off as a condescending nick-name that he'd gradually abandoned.

Hammond was floored at this seemingly casual revelation. "I'm sorry?" he asked incredulously.

Before Jack could make anymore snide remarks, Samantha jumped in and gave Hammond the details – about Macah's frosty attitude towards her, about her falling and Daniel helping to treat her wounds, about their being discovered in what Macah considered to be a 'compromising position.' She bristled as she related this information. It still annoyed her, and would for some time, that there were men out there – even if they _were_ on other planets – who held women in such low regard. "Daniel was given a choice, to marry me or for me to be executed," she said. "He only did it to save my life."

"They spent the night together, too," Jacked piped up.

Daniel glared at him. The more he dealt with Jack's attitude towards his and Samantha's impromptu – and very necessary – marriage, the more he suspected Jack returned some of Samantha's feelings. Otherwise, why would he be acting so petty about it? Damn them both, they should have acted on their feelings years ago, before Daniel foolishly got involved. "They put us in what I assume was their version of the honeymoon suite," he explained. "They weren't very subtle about what they expected us to do. We thought it would be asking for trouble if we requested separate rooms."

Hammond seemed happy with this response. "All right," he said. "Colonel, assemble a team of men to go back there. If they really are interested in trading, we want to get started straight away." A shortage of Naquada was always an issue for the Stargate Command. "Take McKinney to ascertain what their most common illnesses are. I'm sure we can adapt some of our available antibiotics to suit their needs." Captain Roger McKinney was a Doctor of Medical Science whose field of interest was the creation of new and more effective medications. Re-engineering the drugs they currently had to fit slightly different physiologies was his arena. It wasn't quite as good as having Samantha there, but that wasn't exactly an option.

The debriefing meeting over, SG-1 separated. Daniel couldn't wait to get off the base. Already word was getting out about his and Samantha's marriage, and people were coming up to him, offering their congratulations, giving him a few lewd looks. Some people just wouldn't get their heads out of the gutter.

In the sanctuary of his apartment, he really let his pent-up anger go. He screamed a few times, broke a glass that had started off as the means for a stiff drink, and then, when his anger had dissipated, he curled up on his couch to feel sorry for himself.

He had never taken a woman's rejection so hard. He had thought he was somewhat immune to the phenomenon, having so many women in high school and university reject him in favour for the hunkier, more macho guys. He'd thought he was closer to Samantha then that. He'd thought, even though they weren't entirely in their right minds, that she wanted to have sex with _him_. Samantha's rejection of him hurt more then any previous rejections had because Samantha meant more to him then any other woman had.

It wasn't the rejection itself that had cut so deeply into Daniel's soul. It was the way she had done it. Being so close to climaxing when she'd called Jack's name, he hadn't been able to stop. She'd made him come _after _she'd called another man's name and he hated her for that more then he hated her for rejecting him.

How did you get over it when the woman you loved secretly loved your best friend?

-----------------------------------------------------------------

When he felt he was calm enough to return to work without feeling the urge to hurt Samantha every time he saw her, Daniel showed up at Cheyenne Mountain. He ignored the looks he got. People were curious as to why Daniel was quite obviously spending time apart from his new wife. Funny how word was much faster getting out the fact that Daniel and Samantha was married then getting out the fact they were married in name only and only to save her life.

He knocked on Hammond's door. Thankfully, the man was free for a few minutes. A few minutes was all Daniel needed. "I want to transfer to another team," he said, cutting straight to the point.

Hammond looked at him in surprise. "Because of your marriage to Major Carter?" he asked. "Because I think we can make an exception for the two of you, son. After all, those fraternisation laws are there in regards to people who are romantically involved. That hardly applied to a marriage in name only."

Daniel squirmed. He had hoped Hammond would just give him the transfer, but he knew that was too much to ask. There was no way Hammond would split up SG-1 without good reason. Well, Daniel was about to give her good reason. "Sam and I slept together," he admitted. When Hammond looked like he was about to have a heart attack, he quickly added, "It wasn't our fault, There was something in the drink they were giving us all night – something to do with their culture. Apparently it's a capital crime for the woman if a husband and wife don't consummate their marriage on their wedding night so –" he _really_ hoped Hammond saw the logic of his reasoning, "it was kind of a good thing that we did."

Hammond thought about it a few seconds, and decided Daniel had a point. He considered asking Daniel how those people went about proving consummation had occurred and decided he didn't want to know. "You feel this will compromise your relationship with Major Carter?" he asked.

Daniel nodded. He wasn't going to tell Hammond about the main reason he wanted a transfer, that Samantha had called him Jack at the most humiliating point that she possibly could. "There's no way I can convince you to work things out with her? You know I'm reluctant to split S-1 up."

Daniel shook his head. He played his trump card. "You know as soon as Kinsey hears about this, he's going to demand that we be split up. _I_ want to go to another team so you'll have to fight both of us. If you wait until he starts making demands, you're going to look like you've given into him. That will mean he'll ask for something more next time, - and expect it. This way, you can say you were simply respecting my request."

Hammond saw the logic in Daniel's argument; he'd been waiting for the inevitable fight that would come when Kinsey found out about their marriage. If Daniel wasn't going to be on his side, then he may as well give Daniel what he wanted to start off with rather then have it look like he'd given into the Senator's demands. He sighed. "OK," he agreed. "I'll switch you with Captain Jacobs from SG-4. Colonel Richards is in charge. Go and have a chat with him."

"Thank you," Daniel said gratefully. For a moment, he thought maybe Hammond would insist that the best thing for him and Samantha to do was sort things out. Like hell he could sort things out with her. His heart constricted painfully and his hands fisted up when he thought about their disastrous night together. "Oh, and Jack doesn't know about it," he admitted. "I'd rather it stayed that way. I know we lied to you but –"

"I understand," Hammond said magnanimously. He could certainly understand what had driven Daniel at least to keep their night together a secret. Jack was very protective of his team, Samantha in particular – being a woman in a male industry made her an easy target. If he found out a man took advantage of her, even in the circumstances Daniel had described, his first instinct would be less then rational, like that of an overprotective father with a shotgun, only Jack's weapons of choice were far more effective then a shotgun. "If you and Major Carter are happy to keep it between yourselves, then I'll go along with that. Do you think you and her can settle things eventually?"

Daniel shrugged. "I don't know, maybe," he said. He didn't think so.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Samantha didn't find out about Daniel's request for a transfer until two day's later, when Jack asked her had she said anything to Daniel to make him ditch them. He'd already told her he was going to request a transfer, but she'd thought it was something he was just saying in the heat of the moment.

Her heart plummeted when she was told. He was serious. He was leaving SG-1. He couldn't stand to be around her. She wasn't sure she could blame him, but still – _he was leaving_.

She went to find him. He was in his office, about to leave to meet Captain Miranda Jacobs to fill her in on the dynamics of SG-1. He was sure Samantha would be delighted to have a younger woman to mentor – one good thing that had come from their night together. Not that it had been a _night_, more like an hour. An hour to completely wreck a friendship he'd thought was too strong to be wrecked; that was testimony to how deeply she had hurt him.

"I heard you're ditching us," she said. "Were you ever going to tell me or were you just going to hope I wouldn't notice the different between you and Captain Jacobs?" She tried to keep her tone light, but there was something accusing there. Given how much they had been through, didn't he owe it to her to tell her personally?

"I already told you I was requesting a transfer," he reminded her.

"When we were coming home and still offworld," she pointed out. "I thought you were just letting off steam."

"Because you thought I would just get over the fact you called me Jack?" Daniel asked.

Samantha flinched. "How many times do I have to say I'm sorry?"

_Not enough_. "I don't want to keep fighting with you, Sam," Daniel said, and suddenly he was very tired. Having to look at her made his heart ache. "Just… go and be with Jack."

"I don't want Jack!" Samantha yelled, and to her surprise, she meant it. Whatever had been between her and Jack had been an infatuation, a mutual attraction that had long since passed into mutual respect and fondness for each other.

"Really? Could have fooled me," Daniel muttered bitterly. He wanted to believe Samantha, he really did. When she looked at him, indignant and pleading, he wanted to believe her. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to do more then just kiss her. He started to feel very uncomfortable in the groin area when he thought about just what he wanted to do to her _­with _herBut what was that saying? _Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me_. Like hell he was going to let her fool him again. "Get out, Sam," he ordered.

"But, I –"

"_OUT!_" He ordered. Frightened by the tone in his voice, Samantha scampered off. He locked the door behind her and sank into his chair. His brief words with Samantha had exhausted him. Right now he hated her almost as much as he loved her – and he hated himself for loving her. You'd think he wouldn't be such a fool to love someone who loved someone else, but here he was, a complete fool.

There was a knock on his door. "Doctor Jackson? It's Miranda. Can I come in?"

Daniel crossed his office to let the young Captain in. After all, Miranda had done nothing to him so she shouldn't bear the brunt of his bad mood. He put on his best smile. "Sorry about that, I was just thinking," he said.

"Thinking with your door locked?" she asked.

"Something like that," he said. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Is it about Major Carter?" she asked. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to pry. It's just that you guys seemed to be such good friends and now you requested this transfer – it seems strange."

"Miranda, I really don't want to talk about it," Daniel said.

"OK," she agreed, and they left it at that. He was grateful for her tactfulness; he was thoroughly sick of being asked questions about his marriage to Samantha and why they were barely on speaking terms a week later.

Miranda Jacobs was a talented linguist as well as being a twenty-five-year-old Captain in the United States Air Force. Her excellent leadership and communication skill, and her abilities as a strategist, accounted for her attaining the rank at a relatively young age.. On second thought, maybe putting her beneath Samantha wasn't such a great idea after all. Depending on how ambitious Miranda was, it could end very badly. But he'd spent a bit of time with Miranda lately and he didn't think she was that ambitious – her success had been achieved through her skills and achievements and not her determination to climb the career ladder. He thought he could quite like her, if given the opportunity. Once his ego – and his heart – recovered sufficiently.

She beat him to the punch. "Do you want to get a coffee or something later?" she asked. "Somewhere other then the mess hall?"

Daniel made a face. "I swear that stuff isn't coffee. It's industrial ooze with massive doses of caffeine. Um, I'd like to, but I'm kinda getting over something at the moment."

She looked at him, confused. "Sha're?" she asked. His devotion to his wife had been legendary. But it had been a few years since she had died. Surely he wasn't still deeply morning for her?

He shook his head. "No, something else. I don't wanna get into it."

She smiled understandingly. "It doesn't have to be like a _date_," she said. "I just thought, well, I've seen quite a bit of you in the last few days and I thought it would be nice if we could hang out in a less… _official _atmosphere."

He smiled. Yes, Miranda was definitely someone he could spend more time with. "Give me half an hour," he said. "Forget the café, I have a ten thousand dollar coffee maker at home, if you don't mind the mess."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

_One month later_

"Sam, I need you to be absolutely honest with me and know that nothing you tell me goes beyond these walls," Janet said ominously when Samantha reported to the infirmary at the Doctor's request.

She nodded, a little concerned by Janet's summoning her into the infirmary. She felt perfectly fine, but then, there were plenty of Earth diseases, let alone intergalactic ones, that had no symptoms. "OK to both," she agreed cautiously.

"Did you and Daniel ever sleep together?" Janet asked bluntly.

Samantha's eyes went wide in surprise at the question. Janet had no reason to ask it, did she? Sure, she and Daniel weren't on the best of terms these days – mostly he avoided her and he was coolly polite when he was forced to deal with her – but Janet had no reason to suspect it was because they had slept together – or, rather, because she had called him Jack at the most inopportune moment. "What makes you ask that?" she asked, stalling for time.

That Samantha was being vague only added to Janet's suspicions. "It took me a while to get to it, but I was analysing your blood taken from you after you got back from P4X-261. The hormones from your birth control weren't entirely present, I'd say they were working at about seventy percent. I'm going to guess they gave you some kind of fertility drug that, in your case, decreased the effectiveness of your birth control. This made me wonder if they hadn't given you some kind of hormone stimulator as well. This is why I'm asking if you and Daniel slept together because if you did, I have to test you for pregnancy."

Samantha felt her heart stopped beating for a few moments. The scientist in her knew what Janet was saying made sense – and she had more information then Janet did. They had _definitely_ given them a hormone stimulator. She would never have acted the way she had if she'd been entirely in control of herself. Since consummating the marriage obviously meant a lot to these people, then it made sense that conception did too. _A woman's place is barefoot and in the kitchen_, she thought. She bet women who didn't fall pregnant within a year were shunned. Miserable chauvinists. "Sam?" Janet asked, peering at Samantha with a visibly concerned expression on her face. "Sam, what's wrong?"

Samantha's throat was dry. "We did sleep together," she admitted. "They gave us this drink – it was really nice – didn't realise they'd drugged us," she said ruefully. "It was my fault, I was all over him as soon as we were alone. He tried to tell me we weren't in our right minds. I told him I didn't care… As it turned out, it saved my life… They're really archaic and they, um… had someone come and make sure the marriage had been consummated. The woman who did it said if the marriage wasn't consummated, it meant the woman was undesirable, which is a capital punishment."

While she was talking, she stared at some arbitrary spot on the wall rather then look at Janet. It had been a month since those steamy moments spent together – it could hardly be called a _night_ – but she was having trouble forgetting it. She had tried a few times to work things out with Daniel, but he didn't want to talk to her. He was still angry at her and when he wasn't angry, he was just tired, and not willing to trust her again.

It was ironic, because it wasn't until she had pushed Daniel too far that she realised how much he meant to her. He had always been there for her, always oblivious to the _thing_ she had with Jack, their infatuation, whatever it was. Daniel had been her best friend and something more then that, something unspoken because it would be inappropriate for team members to be involved. Still, there had always the lingering displays of affection – a caress on the cheek, a hand on the shoulder. Not to mention his quiet but unwavering support. She felt very alone without Daniel at her side, more alone then she could have thought possible.

She was vaguely aware that she was in love with him and she hadn't realised it until she had pushed him too far. Now there were rumours about him and the women he'd traded with, Miranda Jacobs. Rationally, Samantha knew better then to trust gossip, but, irrationally, she was being just a little sharp with the newest member of SG-1.

"Sam?" Janet questioned, interrupting Samantha's thoughts. "If that's the case, I want to test you for pregnancy. It's unlikely but there's still a chance."

Samantha nodded and let Janet take her blood. "How's the annulment going?" Janet asked.

Samantha made a face. Even in the military, annulments were notoriously hard to come by – worse, in fact, then everyday life. It was hard to find an official who was cleared to accept 'we broke a few archaic laws while on an offworld mission and were forced to get married to save our lives' as a legitimate excuse. Stupid Daniel and his stupid precedent-setting marriage to Sha're. If it wasn't for him, their marriage now would just be considered a quaint ceremony offworld that had no consequence on Earth. "It's not," she admitted glumly. Something Daniel seemed to hold _her_ personally responsible for – or at least, that was the vibe she was getting from Miranda.

After a few minutes of silence between the two women, Janet said, "Honestly, Sam, I'm having trouble understanding why Daniel's mad at you. Is it because you slept together? I can understand why he'd want a transfer, but I don't understand why he'd stop talking to you. That doesn't seem like him."

Samantha blushed. "He's not mad at me because of that… he's mad at me because I called him Jack," she admitted.

"And he didn't _stop_?" Janet asked incredulously. That didn't seem like Daniel at all. Not that she had first hand experience, but the Daniel Jackson she knew had more pride then that.

Samantha looked at the floor, feeling very, very small. "Uh, he couldn't," she admitted.

Janet's eyes grew wide in comprehension. "You mean you called him Jack while he was _coming_?" she asked. Samantha nodded miserably. "Oh, God, Sam, no wonder he'd mad at you. He must be feeling humiliated."

"Yeah, don't make me feel worse then I already do," Samantha said. "Oh, God, Janet, I can't believe what I've done. I thought I had feelings for Jack – but knowing how much I miss Daniel – and now he won't speak to me – now he's seeing someone else."

"I wouldn't bet on that," Janet said sympathetically. "I asked him about it. He wasn't very keen on talking about it – which says a lot, I think – but I got the impression he's only half-hearted about it. I also got the impression he was carrying quite a chip on his shoulder over something."

"Yeah, well, now you know. I completely undermined his masculinity," Samantha said. Oh, God, how had things gone so badly so quickly? She wished she had Daniel here right now supporting her. She was sure that if she told him she could be pregnant he'd come – but only out of obligation. She didn't want him merely out of obligation. She was in love with him, but she wasn't desperate.

----------------------------------------------------------

Miranda knocked on Daniel's door. He smiled when he looked up and saw her, although it was a friendly smile and not a romantic one that she kept hoping for. She and Daniel had been spending a lot of time together lately – both on and off the base – but all of it frustratingly platonic.

He was attracted to her, and that made it all the more frustrating. After two weeks she'd given up on him making the first move, so she'd gone to kiss him . He'd pulled away discreetly, but she was woman enough to know what he was doing. "I'm sorry," he'd said apologetically. "I'm not ready to get into a relationship."

What was aggravating was he wouldn't tell her _why_. She figured it was another woman, but he never gave any details, or even a name. She wondered if it was Major Carter. The Major had certainly become cool to her since the rumours about her relationship with Daniel had started circulating – almost all of it entirely made up, like the one about them being found having sex in a storage closet. Miranda knew better then to take offence at such gossip and she and Daniel had often had a laugh about it. Once she had made it clear she wasn't going to pursue him like some of the more aggressive women on the base, they had stuck up quite a good camaraderie – with an obvious physical attraction to one another.

"Miranda," he said when he saw her. "How you doing?" He always called her Miranda, even when there were other people around, rather then Captain Jacobs. Technically it was against the rules, but she didn't mind.

"Pretty good," she said. She had just come back from a debriefing from a routine offworld mission and was looking to unwind. "My TV Guide tells me _Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom_ is on tonight. Wanna come and watch it with me?" she asked, her eyes sparkling conspiratorially. Big-budget movies centring around archaeology were a secret vice of Daniel's. In much the same way that Teal'c was endlessly amused by the portrayal of aliens in moves like _Star Wars_ and _E.T._ for the sheer magnitude of how off the mark they were, Daniel was endlessly amused by movies like those in the _Indiana Jones_ and _The Mummy_ franchises for how off the mark they were in their portrayal of archaeology.

"Are you sure?" Daniel asked. at the thought of an evening of running commentary about how useless their researcher and scriptwriters were. "I can be a pain in the ass."

Miranda laughed. She was a linguist, not an archaeologist, but she was still fascinated by what Daniel did. His knowledge of ancient history was staggering. "I think I can handle you," she said confidently.

As it turned out, they did have a good time together, helped by Daniel making a concerted effort not to be a know-it-all. It had been ages since he'd consciously tried to impress a woman – or at least taken the effort to tone down on the intensity – and he found it thrilling, if somewhat anxiety-inducing. He liked Miranda a lot and knew she was interested in him, but he was apprehensive about getting involved with someone while his ego was still feeling the sting of Samantha's rejection. The last thing he wanted was to get involved with someone just because it made him feel better that he was wanted.

He wasn't surprised when she kissed him, kind of welcomed it in fact. It was nice. He kissed her back, found it was much easier and more enjoyable then he had anticipated, then reluctantly pulled away. "Miranda, I _really_ like you," he said.

"But…" Miranda prompted warily.

"But – and I know this sound really crazy – it doesn't feel right – getting involved when I'm married. I know it's only on paper, but I'd rather if we took things slow until the annulment comes through."

Miranda smiled. She _did_ consider it a little crazy but it was one of the things she loved about Daniel. He was so sensitive and took marriage vows seriously – seriously enough that he wanted an annulment before he got involved with someone else. Here she'd been thinking he was going to tell her he was interested in someone else. "I can wait," she said. "How long, do you know?"

"Another two weeks, I hope," he said. "Sam's got the last of the paperwork to sign and then I'll be free and clear."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

For two weeks, Samantha had stared at the annulment papers on her desk, waiting to be signed. Her signature and she and Daniel would be free and clear, their marriage ceasing to exist.

She didn't know what to do.

Well, actually, she did. She had been thinking about it for two weeks and she had finally decided what she wanted to do.

She was pregnant. Janet had sympathised over the sheer bad luck of the situation but there was no helping that she was pregnant. So her options were abortion, adoption, or keeping the child.

She knew she couldn't have an abortion and she knew equally that she couldn't carry her child for nine months and then just hand it over. This left her with the less-then-desirable option of keeping it.

She had never seriously thought about having children. It had always been in the back of her mind, of course, something to do when she was older, when she was secure in her career – but she was never old enough, never secure enough. It was easy for men to have children, a few minutes and there you go, the woman can take care of the rest. Well, she _was_ a woman and having a child was a much greater investment of her time then it was for a man.

But she was getting old, there was no getting around that, and this was most likely her last opportunity to have a child. If she didn't have this child, then chances were, she would never had one. The thought scared her more then she thought it would.

She wanted this child. She wanted to raise it with Daniel.

Daniel didn't want _her_.

There was the crux of the situation. Was she willing to be a single mother? Could she deal with the worst possible reaction from Daniel – that he wouldn't care, that he wouldn't want the child?

In the end, she decided yes just in time for Daniel to come marching into her office, demanding why the hell she hadn't signed the annulment papers.

"I have a life to live and whatever stupid games you're playing, I don't appreciate it!" he raged. He was in a particularly bad mood at Samantha because he had been very, very tempted to make a move on Miranda after he'd told her he wanted to wait until after the annulment. He still was. He really did feel uncomfortable about breaking his marriage vows – even if they were only on paper and even if he doubted 'honour and obey' really applied to men on P4X-261. Even so, he wanted to wait. He had expected it to be wrapped up two weeks ago, when he'd first passed on the papers to sign – _two weeks ago_.

"_So_ sorry to have inconvenienced you," Samantha said sarcastically, her defences automatically up when she heard the tone in Daniel's voice. She wondered what his life was – was it Miranda Jacobs? Was he screwing her brains out on a daily occasion like the gossips said he was? Did he want to marry her, was _that_ why he was so eager to have the annulment done with?

He glared at her. _She_ was the one who was holding the annulment up. _She_ had no right to speak to him like that. "Well, what's taking you so long?" he asked. "Spending too much time with Jack?"

Hateful, hateful man. "Only professionally," she said.

He laughed bitterly. "I doubt it. So what's the problem?"

There was no help for it. She had hoped to ease into it, tell him at a more opportune moment, but it wasn't going to come. "I just thought you might want to give your child your name," she informed him icily.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three 

"You're pregnant?" Daniel asked dumbly. Samantha nodded. "And who's the father?"

Samantha glared at him hatefully. "You _would_ think that," she hissed at him. She was in no mood to deal with his jealousy at the moment – even if it had some foundation. All she'd heard so far was Daniel verbally attacking her for not signing the damn annulment papers and as soon as she had told him about her pregnancy, he wanted to know who the father was.

Daniel crossed his arms over his chest defensively. "You haven't exactly given me the impression you've only been with me," he pointed out.

"I _have _only been with you!" she defended herself. Damnit, why couldn't he make this easier for her?

Daniel laughed bitterly. "Could have fooled me. Next you're going to tell me you _haven't_ been shacked up with Jack this whole time."

Tears sprung to her eyes, which she blamed on the hormones. "I've had nothing to do with Jack!" she yelled, fast losing her temper. "Look, I thought you'd feel that way so here, Janet did a paternity test." She thrust a piece of paper into Daniel's hand.

Daniel scanned the piece of paper and bit his lip as it dawned on him that Samantha _was_ pregnant and he _was_ the father. She wouldn't manufacture evidence like that, not when she could have manufactured it in Jack's favour. He didn't believe that she hadn't slept with Jack. Like things couldn't get any worse with their relationship. "How did this happen?" he happened.

She glared at him. Was he being deliberate obtuse? "Do you need me to spell it out?" she asked sarcastically.

He sighed unhappily. This was something he did not need. He'd come here wanting to know what was holding up the annulment papers so he could start a new relationship guilt-free, and been saddled with fatherhood. "I _know _how it happened," he snapped. "I meant… I thought you were on protection."

"I was. Apparently they gave us – well, me at least – some kind of fertility drug in that stuff we drank. It got my protection down to about eighty percent. The rest was just bad luck."

Daniel leaned against her desk. "What do you want to do?" he asked tiredly. He really did not want to deal with this right now – or any time. This was just another reason why he shouldn't have let her convince him it was a good idea for them to have sex.

"What do _I_ want to do?" she responded incredulously. "Last time I checked, it took two people to make a baby."

She didn't like the tired way Daniel was looking at her. When he'd come charging into her office a few minutes ago he'd been full of anger, but at least he'd showed some passion. Passion about moving on with his life. Now he was just tired – tired of having to deal with her. "It's your body, Sam," he pointed out. "If you want to have an abortion, I can't stop you."

She gasped in horror. It was never really an option for her and now that she had decided to keep it, the idea of terminating her pregnancy was abhorrent. "You think I want to have an _abortion?_" she asked.

"Well it's going to be incredibly inconvenient for you to have a life when you're stuck carrying my child," Daniel pointed out. He bet she wouldn't look nearly as miserable if she was carrying _Jack's_ child.

She felt miserable because Daniel was being such a jerk about it. She was sorry about what had happened and she had tried to make it up for him, but it was like talking to a wall. "Don't be like this," she begged.

"Don't be like what?" he asked coolly. "You don't want to be with me, Sam; you made that very clear. I'm not going to try and pretend we can live happily ever after just because I had the bad luck to get your pregnant. I'm certainly not going to try and make you keep this baby by promising that. Do what you want, Sam. I've got no say in it." And with that he brushed past her to leave her office before he did something he'd regret, like promising her happily ever after.

Samantha watched Daniel go, feeling her heart ache over his departure. He didn't care! She'd just informed him he was going to be a father and he didn't care! She had known he was still angry at her, but she honestly hadn't anticipated that he would be so angry he wouldn't want to know about it. Right now he was probably wishing the baby was Jack's so he could wash his hands of the responsibility.

How could he not see how much she loved him? How could she have been so stupid not to see how much she loved him until it was too late?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"When are you free? I'd like it if we could go somewhere and… talk."

"Sounds ominous," Miranda remarked when she heard the tone in Daniel's voice and saw the look in his eyes. "What's up?"

"Not here," he said. He closed his eyes and struggled to get control of his feelings. "Sorry, I shouldn't have barged in on you like this."

"No, it's OK," she said, her interested piqued. That, and she was flattered Daniel had come to her about whatever was bothering her. "I'm just doing some paperwork, I can do it tomorrow." She stashed what she was doing in a drawer and was done for the day.

She and Daniel left together, something that would no doubt add to what the gossips were already saying. Leaving her car at the base, she let him drive her back to his apartment, where he fidgeted and stalled a lot. "What's up?" she asked him again.

He bit his lip. "Do you remember me telling you that I'd been burned and I didn't want to get involved again too quickly?" he asked. Miranda nodded. "Well, it was Sam."

She stared at him disbelievingly. "Major _Carter?_" she asked. Daniel nodded. "But that's – is that why you asked for a transfer?" He nodded. "Was it on your last mission?" Another nod. "But I thought – isn't that seriously against regulations?"

"They gave us something," he explained again. "You know when you get drunk and suddenly the people you'd never think of sleeping with start to get very attractive?" Miranda nodded. "It was like that, except much stronger."

Miranda bit her lip. "So you slept together and you asked for a transfer. I don't understand why you're so angry at her and I don't understand why you're telling me now."

"You can't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you," he said seriously. Miranda nodded. "I mean it. I feel bad enough without anyone else knowing."

"OK… I won't tell anyone," Miranda said seriously.

"She called me Jack," Daniel said dispiritedly. He sighed, and decided he may as well admit everything. "And now she's pregnant."

Miranda stared at Daniel, completely floored. It certainly was a lot to take in. "We're all protected from that," she told him.

He sighed. "Janet seems to think we – or at least she – was given some kind of fertility treatment that left her not entirely protected, about eighty percent."

Miranda bit her lip. This certainly put a spanner in the works. "So the annulment –"

"Not going to happen right at the moment," he said. "I don't know if we even _can_, if she wants to keep it. And honestly, I don't know if I can ask for a divorce in those kind of circumstances. She said to me 'I thought you'd want to give your child your name', and as stupid as it sounds, I don't want my kid to be born out of wedlock, not when we're already married."

"What does she want to do?"

Daniel looked distraught. "I don't know. I told her it was her choice."

"Well, it is," Miranda pointed out. "If she wants to have an abortion –"

Daniel cringed. "Please don't remind me," he begged.

She wound her hand around to the base of his neck, her fingers brushed the hair there. He bent his head towards her, glad to have the contact. "Have you told her how you feel?" she asked.

"No," he said. "That's her choice."

Miranda sighed. On the one hand, it was very tempting to let Daniel leave Samantha to it. It would be convenient as far as their relationship went if there wasn't a child involved. She wasn't happy to hear the news that Daniel and Samantha had slept together, even if it hadn't entirely been their fault, but she couldn't bring herself to encourage Daniel to cut off all ties with Samantha just because it would be convenient for their burgeoning relationship.

"You should talk to her," she suggested. "You can't stop her from having an abortion, but maybe you can sway her with what you want."

Daniel bit his lip. Then he said, "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For getting you involved in this."

She kissed him on the cheek. "It's nothing," she said. "I don't know what you want from us, but you have to do what feels right, or else it's not going to work at all." Even, she decided, if that meant Daniel decided to be with Samantha. She couldn't manipulate him into a relationship as much as she wanted to continue to be with him, it would be bound to backfire.

He looked at her quizzically. "Wait – do you think I want to be with _Sam_?" he asked.

"Well, you're attracted to her and you're married to her and she's carrying your child," Miranda pointed out the obvious. "If that's what you want, I'm not going to hold you to whatever this may have been."

She leaned in to kiss her softly, quickly on the lips. "I really like being with you, Miranda," he said sincerely. "I do want this child, but I don't want to be with Samantha. I want to keep seeing you, but I'm married and… I'm afraid I've made a big mess of things."

She pulled him into her arms, and he accepted the embrace gratefully. "I don't mind," she said after a moment's thought. "If you're married in name only…"

"I am," Daniel insisted. He sighed. "People are going to talk," he pointed out.

"They're already talking," Miranda pointed out. She'd already had several people, convinced that Daniel and Samantha's marriage was the real deal, ask her how she could 'steal' a man from his wife. Those kinds of questions always left her not knowing what to explain first, that Daniel and Samantha had only married to save her life, or that she and Daniel were in a very tentative relationship that was more like a friendship then a romance most of the time. "But I don't care what they say. I just…" she faltered, hating to admit her insecurities. "I just need to know that you don't want to be with her."

He raised his head to kiss her. It was the first time he'd kissed her, rather then the other way around, and she was grateful she was sitting down, because if she'd been standing, her knees would have buckled and the only thing to keep her upright would have been Daniel's arms wrapping themselves around her waist to draw her tightly against him. His kiss was passionate, overpowerful, and definitely one hundred percent focused on her.

"Does that answer your question?" he asked when they broke for air.

"You know it did," she said breathlessly. She kissed him and soon they were making out, although he seemed hesitant to so much as get his hands under her shirt. So she was surprised when he asked her to stay the night. She bit her lip. "I'm not ready for that," she admitted.

His eyes clouded with confusion, and then cleared up. He smiled reassuringly at her. "I didn't mean have sex," he clarified. "I want to spend the night with you. That's all." He wrinkled his nose when he thought about the implications of Miranda's initial refusal. "What kind of guy do you take me for, anyway? Drugs notwithstanding, I don't do that kind of thing. It's…" he searched for the words.

"Too much?" Miranda offered. Daniel nodded. Of _course_ he'd be the kind of guy who wasn't into sex on the first date. Not that what they'd been doing was exactly going on _dates_, but the principle held. She hugged him, and snuggled into his hold as he hugged her back. "I'll stay if you want," she said, pleased that Daniel wanted her with him.

"Thank you," Daniel said. He felt better for having Miranda around. He was glad he had told her about Samantha – their night together, her pregnancy. She had been very understanding about it, more so then a lot of people would have been, but then, that was what he'd liked about her in the first place. It was too early to say anything definite, of course, but he had a feeling their relationship could become something big.

In the meantime, he had to talk to Samantha. He would do that tomorrow. Right now, he was happy to be with Miranda.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Samantha was pleasantly surprised to see Daniel in the morning. He was dressed to go to work, so he'd clearly made the effort to see her before that, rather then just see her at work. "Hi," she said, suddenly shy.

"Hi," he said. "Can I come in?"

He was so uncomfortable around her, and it made her heart twist painfully. Maybe if she'd treated him a little better all these years, he wouldn't be looking so uncomfortable around her now. "Of course," she said, and she opened the door to him. He followed her into her house. "Do you want a coffee or something?" she asked, knowing that coffee _always_ made Daniel feel better, especially when it wasn't the industrial ooze they served at the mess hall.

"No, thanks, I'm wound up enough as it is," he admitted. He hated to think what a wreck he would be right now if it hasn't been for Miranda's soothing presence the last night. He had dropped her at her place before he'd come to see Samantha, and she'd wished him good luck. The coward in him wished she was here right now. She had made everything seem much easier last night.

Daniel and Samantha stood in uncomfortable silence for a few moments before Daniel blurted out, "We need to talk about this."

"I _tried_ talking to you yesterday," Samantha reminded him, as gently as she could despite the bitterness she felt about the way Daniel had reacted. She had never expected him to react so coolly to the prospect of fatherhood. "You snapped at me."

He cringed. "I'm sorry, I was pissed off about the annulment and you threw me. But… well, I know I can't stop you but… I don't want you to have an abortion," he blurted out. "I mean… I want this child, Sam. I don't want you to have an abortion if my lack of support is the only thing stopping you. I want to be part of its life."

They were the words Samantha had been longing to hear. She had slept very little the previous night, thinking about Daniel's words, convinced he didn't care what she did with _their_ child so long as he didn't have to be involved. And now, here he was, saying quite sincerely that he wanted to be part of their child's life. She had _known_ he wasn't the kind of man who didn't care about his children. His own childhood had been too bumpy for him not to give him children the stability he had always craved.

Tears forming in her eyes, Samantha threw herself into Daniel's arms in a rare display of emotion. "I've wanted to hear you say that," she admitted in a choked voice. She raised her head to look Daniel in those beautiful blue eyes of his before kissing him.

Abruptly, he pushed her away. "I think you have the wrong idea," he said in a low voice. "I don't want to be involved with you, not romantically. I want us to raise this child together, but… I'm not your husband. Not in that sense."

The warmth drained from her body as she realised what Daniel was saying. He had come over hear to say he wanted to be part of his child's life and like a fool, she had interpreted that to mean he wanted to be part of _her_ life, in the sense of being her husband and not just the father of her child. She backed away from Daniel quickly, wishing the world would swallow her whole. "I want you to go," she said in a tight, controlled voice.

He looked at her and realised she was embarrassed. He didn't think she was used to throwing herself at men, let alone having them reject her. So she was embarrassed, maybe she had some idea of how _he_ had felt when she'd called him Jack. "We need to talk about this, that's why I came over," Daniel said.

Samantha struggled to compose herself. She had just thrown herself at Daniel only to have him turn her down flat. She _was not_ going to cry in front of him. If he wanted to act all professional, well, she could do professional. "What do you want to talk about?" she asked flatly.

"Custody, access – child support," Daniel rattled off a few practical considerations. Samantha flinched at just _how_ practically he was talking. He was taking the feelings she had for him and turning them into a practical matter. "What are you planning to do pre-nataly? I want to be with you for that."

_As the father of my child_, Samantha thought miserably. She could see it in Daniel's eyes, he saw her as little more then a vessel for his child. _She would not cry_. She could be just as practical as he was. "You can see as much of it as you like, you know I would never deprive you of our child. I won't need your money, but I will need your support. I'll need you to take it sometimes so I can have time to myself. I – _we_ – will need you to take an active interest."

"You know I will, Sam," he said softly and it was the first time they'd even remotely connected since their night together. He was remembered he fractured childhood and how he wanted to make it different for his own child.

She smiled, and there was a little more warmth in her smile. She knew Daniel would be an excellent father. These were terrible circumstances to have a child in, but they could be much worse – Daniel could have no interest in it whatsoever. "As for pre-natal – I haven't looked into any classes yet, but if you want to come along – I'd like that."

"So would I. What about missions?"

"I'm going to stand down for a year or so," Samantha said. She hadn't thought about it in depth, so she was surprised at how quickly a decisive answer came. She had been thinking about it more then she realised. "We know so little about the effects of Naquada on the human body, let alone of a feutus, I don't want to take that risk."

"I was actually thinking more along the lines of the danger we're exposed to every day," Daniel pointed out. He was relieved Samantha was going to stand down for the duration of her pregnancy. "Will it help if I stand down too?"

She was surprised at how quickly the offer came, but that was typical Daniel. He never did things by halves. He didn't want to miss out on anything to do with his child. She only wished he could treat her with the same amount of regard. "You don't need to do that," she said. "Maybe if you could scale back your workload though, try and be here when I need you."

"I can do that," Daniel said, and he sounded like they were discussing a group project. She supposed that was how he saw it. They were in this together, whether he liked it or not. "How are you going to tell people?"

"You mean how am I going to tell _Jack_?" Samantha clarified. She couldn't help but smile a little. Daniel was quaking in his boots at the thought of Jack knowing he and Samantha had slept together, let alone that he'd gotten her pregnant. Jack hadn't even been happy about their marriage and the fact they'd spent the night together as a matter of saving Samantha's life. He would be furious to know they'd slept together. "I'll tell him as gently as I can. I'll make sure he knows it wasn't your fault."

Daniel looked relieved. He knew it was selfish to be thinking of such a thing when they had much bigger issues to deal with, but Jack could be very scary sometimes. "Thanks," he said. He glanced at his watch and realised the both needed to get going.

"Why don't you come over for dinner?" Samantha asked hopefully. "We can talk about this more." It wasn't exactly a date, but time alone with Daniel couldn't be a bad thing.

"I can't," he said, "I've already made plans."

"What, to go over another manuscript?" Samantha asked, very aware of Daniel's penchant for sacrificing anything resembling a social life so he could read a book.

Daniel scowled. He was very aware of his reputation as a bookworm, but he thought Samantha knew him better then that. But then, them not knowing each other had gotten them into this mess. "I'm seeing someone," he said. Funny how he didn't feel like rubbing in the fact that, now that she'd decided she wanted to be with him, he was seeing someone else.

Samantha blanched. "You mean Captain Jacobs?" she asked. Daniel nodded. "Aren't you a little _old_ for her?" she spat, thinking about Daniel with the pretty young captain. No wonder Daniel had been so thrown by her news yesterday. He had been thinking that his wonderful life with Captain Jacobs had to be put on hold. Her heart twisted painfully when she thought about how she'd thrown herself at Daniel and all the while he'd been seeing someone else. She wondered if they were sleeping together. _That_ made her heart ache.

"Isn't _Jack_ a little old for _you_?" Daniel spat back.

"Jack and I are not involved!" When was Daniel going to see that?

"Could have fooled me," Daniel said bitterly. His eyes clouded over with anger and then he composed himself. "Look, Sam, I don't want to fight with you about this. What's done is done and we need to focus on the future. OK?"

Samantha nodded. She had too much pride to beg Daniel to take her back – not that they were together in the first place. That had been the problem. "Let me know if you need to go to the doctor or something and I'll be there," Daniel promised. Samantha nodded again, refusing to say what was in her heart: _but you won't be there as my boyfriend._

She couldn't resist asking, "What does Captain Jacobs have to say about all this?"

"She's been very supportive," Daniel admitted, smiling at the memory of the semi-platonic night they'd spent together. Samantha's heart ached a little harder. So they _had_ slept together ; he wouldn't be smiling that way if they hadn't. "She was the one who told me to come and speak to you, actually. She won't begrudge me spending time with you for the sake of the baby."

Samantha wished she hadn't asked. The last thing she wanted to hear was how supportive Captain Jacobs was being. It would be much easier if Jacobs was a possessive bitch – she would have driven a wedge between her and Daniel soon enough. But no, she had to be the supportive type. Samantha bet her child would just _love_ Jacobs as a stepmother. Bitterness washed through her body. It wasn't fair. She had known Daniel for years, they'd invested so much time building on their friendship, and just when Samantha realised she wanted more then friendship, Miranda Jacobs came along and usurped her.

"I hope you're very happy together," Samantha said with heavy sarcasm and bitterness. She had meant to sound sincere, but it was hard to keep her feelings to herself when they were as strong as they were.

Daniel's eyes glittered dangerously. "Don't you _dare_ criticise my relationship," he ordered her. "You had your chance; you decided you wanted Jack. You've got no claim on me now." It was so hard to stay in control of his emotions when Samantha was pushing his buttons the way she was, but he had to try, for the sake of their child. "Look, I'm free tomorrow night. Why don't we talk then?" he suggested. It would give him the chance to calm down.

Samantha remained stoic. "Fine," she agreed. "Seven?"

"Seven is fine." They were talking like virtual strangers. It was sad that their relationship had degenerated into this, but then, Daniel thought, that wasn't his fault. "I'd better get to work." Without waiting for an offer to be seen out, Daniel bolted, glad to be out of the house. There was something unnerving about being with Samantha. She knew how to push his buttons. She knew how to put him on the defensive. She knew how to make him want her.

He didn't feel guilt over finding another woman attractive. That was just stupid. He had no intention of acting on his attraction for Samantha, Miranda being just a small part of his reasons, but he felt unnerved at the prospect of spending so much time with her.

He contrived to spend lunch with Miranda. It was good to be in her presence; she helped him relax. He told her how things had gone with Samantha. "Well, it's good that she wants the baby, isn't it?" she pointed out optimistically.

He shrugged. "Of course it is," he said. "It's just – I feel uncomfortable being around her. She wants to take things further, she wants us to be in a relationship."

"How do you feel about that?" Miranda asked. It was a loaded question.

He looked at her pointedly. "I have no intention of being involved with her any more then I have to," he declared. "Mostly because of what she did, but…" his face softened when he looked into her eyes. He couldn't believe how patient, how supportive she was being. "I want to be with you," he said quietly.

Miranda smiled; it had been what she'd wanted to hear. She'd been worried about Daniel seeing Samantha, worried he might decide the best thing was for them to get together. "I was hoping you'd say that," she said shyly.

Daniel leaned in to kiss her. From a few meters away, Samantha watched the pair with growing irritation. Christ, they were practically making out, and never mind the fact there was less of an age gap between them then there was between her and Jack, it was _unseemly_ for them to be together.

She seemed to be the only one who minded, though, judging from the wolf-whistles and applause that was being created by the other diners. _That_ would give the gossips something to talk about, especially once it got out that she was pregnant. She hoped his reputation as a good guy suffered because of it – one woman knocked up, and already seeing another.

She unconsciously touched her stomach. There was no bump there yet, of course, but she could swear she felt the life there, a life she and Daniel had created, whether he was happy about it or not. That was something pretty strong binding them together. She thought about all the time Daniel would have to spend with her. She was sure that was plenty of time to bond and mend fences. She was sure, given time, Daniel would see that they were meant to be together. She held no beef with Captain Jacobs, but it was true what they said, that all was fair in love and war.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Predictably, Jack was furious when he found out about Samantha being pregnant. He couldn't believe Daniel had acted so indignant about Jack's crude comments when all along he'd been doing exactly what Jack had accused him of – taking advantage of a helpless woman. Alright, so Samantha wasn't exactly _helpless_, but, still, Daniel had taken advantage of her, Jack was convinced of it.

Five minutes after Samantha had broken the news as gently as she could, jack had found Daniel and had him pinned against the wall of his office. "You son of a bitch," Jack growled with a murderous glint in his eyes.

"Jack," Daniel said in an even voice, "it's none of your business."

Jack pulled him away a few inches and slammed him into the wall again. Daniel grunted in pain. Jack certainly knew how to hurt a person. "It _is_ my business when you take advantage of my 2IC," Jack said.

Daniel struggled free. "It wasn't our fault, we were drugged," he insisted.

"_Right_," Jack scoffed.

"What the hell is your problem?" Daniel demanded. "Don't tell me you're jealous?" Maybe Samantha was telling the truth that she and Jack weren't together. Maybe that was why Jack had been increasingly intolerant of Daniel and Samantha's banter, because he'd been jealous.

Jack took a swing at Daniel. It landed squarely on his cheek, knocking Daniel back. "Like I would ever be jealous of someone like _you_," Jack said incredulously. What did such a dork like Jackson think he had going for him? The only way he could get a woman was to have her drugged. Jack wasn't entirely sure Daniel was telling the truth there, although he himself had experience being drugged with foreign substances.

Daniel regain his footing. "Well then what's your problem?" he demanded irritably. He knew his cheek was going to hurt for a few days.

"My problem," Jack ranted, ready to take another swing at Daniel, "is that you took advantage of her." He got in another punch.

Daniel started putting effort into ducking Jack's blows. "I did no such thing. And it goes to show how much you value her, because if we hadn't, she would be dead."

Samantha _had_ told him that, although she hadn't gone into much detail. "Oh, so you hated every minute of it and it was completely an _obligation_," Jack said sarcastically.

Jack was being a complete ass about this, and talking wasn't going to achieve anything, Daniel realised. "I'm not going to talk to you when all you want to do is beat me up," Daniel said, edging for the door before Jack _really_ let his aggression go. "Maybe if you actually_ listened_ to Sam, she'll tell you the same thing."

Jack glowered. The truth was, Samantha _had _told him that, but he was having trouble accepting that Daniel couldn't be blamed for his actions, no more then Samantha could. When Samantha had admitted that she and Daniel _had_ slept together, and that she was pregnant, the news had hit him like a blow to the gut. He had long ago accepted that nothing was going to happen between him and Samantha, but for something to happen between her and Daniel was a massive blow to his ego. What had she seen in him, especially since he had been keeping his distance ever since they'd gotten back from their last mission together, when their marriage and night together had taken place? The Daniel he knew was hardly a fuck-and-run merchant, but it was the only thing that made sense – other then Samantha being at fault, which Jack had ruled out completely. Which meant, in Jack's eyes, that Daniel had taken advantage of her and now wanted nothing to do with her, despite the fact that he'd gotten her pregnant. Oh, for sure, Samantha had said he would be there for the _child_, but that was a far cry from being there for _Samantha_. Daniel was bailing on his obligations and he told Daniel that.

"Maybe you should ask her what happened then," Daniel responded bitterly. It didn't really surprise him that Jack had taken Samantha's side so completely. Of course Samantha wouldn't have told Jack what had happened. Well, _he_ certainly wasn't going to enlighten Jack and have himself made the fool all over again. Jack could think what he wanted, Daniel didn't care; he wasn't under Jack's command anymore.

----------------------------------------------------------

"What the hell happened to you?" Miranda asked when she saw Daniel that evening.

"Got into a fight with Jack," Daniel said, although he wasn't sure 'fight' really covered the one-sided match that it had been. "He's angry at me because of Samantha."

"So he _hit_ you?" Miranda asked. It didn't entirely surprise her. The time she had spent as part of SG1, she was getting some strange vibes between Jack and Samantha. There was some chemistry there. It made her angry that Samantha had seen fit to get Daniel involved. Now that she knew about that, she found it difficult to be around the Major. "Did you tell him what happened?"

Daniel rolled his eyes. "I'm not stupid, Miranda. The less people who know about that, the better."

There was bitterness in his voice. She kissed him softly and dropped the subject completely. He kissed her back, and soon they were making out, although they had an unspoken agreement that they were going to take their time. The more time she spent with Daniel, the more sensitive she realised he was, and how much of a blow to his ego Samantha's little stunt had been. He wanted to take his time, learn to trust her, and she was fine with that. It was refreshing to be with a guy who wanted to get to know you before they went to bed with you.

She dropped the subject with Daniel, but that didn't mean she forgot about it. The next day, when the temporary three-man team of SG1 was being briefed for their next mission, she was hostile towards Jack until the Colonel got fed up with his Captain's behaviour and, getting her alone in a hall, asked her what the hell was her problem.

"I have a problem with you beating up my boyfriend," Miranda shot hotly.

Jack stared at Miranda. Daniel was her _boyfriend_? Jack's anger towards the archaeologist grew. So he'd knocked up one woman – a very dear friend of his, no less – and he was sleeping with another – who was a good ten years younger then him, on top of everything. Jack didn't think Daniel had it in him, but clearly, he didn't know Daniel. "I think you have appalling taste," Jack said. "Daniel and I had words because he's a fuck-and-run merchant," Jack said harshly.

"You didn't have words, you gave him a black eye," Miranda retorted. She wasn't afraid of Jack. The man was nudging fifty, past his prime. She could hold her own against him. "And if you want to know why he doesn't want to get involved with Major Carter, well, maybe you should ask her that."

What was with people – first Daniel, now Miranda – telling him he should ask Samantha what had gone so horribly wrong that Daniel wanted nothing to do with her? Jack brought it up with Samantha, who was uncharacteristically evasive.

"It was my fault," was all she would say, "and nothing you can do or say will fix it. I think with time he might come around but in the meantime, he'll be there for the baby – I know he will." Jack was dubious, but Samantha seemed convinced, and he knew from experience that trying to convince her otherwise once her mind was made up with a futile process. Jack left it be as best as he knew how.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Over the next two months, Samantha did everything in her power to interrupt Daniel and Miranda's relationship. She asked a few subtle questions and voila, an appointment with the obstetrician coincided with the romantic dinner the two of them had planned. She would pretend to be exhausted and Daniel would spend the afternoon making sure she stayed in bed, bringing her food, drinks – company. She would, of course, insist that she was perfectly capable of looking after herself, to which Daniel would tell her he wanted to make sure she and the baby were OK, and that it wasn't in his nature to pay someone to watch over her pregnancy. She pulled every trick she could think of to have him at her side, gradually winning him over by reminding him how good friends they had once been. When she learned through a passing comment Daniel had made that he and Miranda weren't sleeping together yet, she was absolutely delighted and redoubled her efforts.

Of course, it cut her deeply that, for all his friendly affection and paternal concern, Daniel never showed any interest in her beyond that as a friend and the mother of his child. When they went to pre-natal classes together, at first the other expectant mothers were envious of the rapport she and Daniel had, then their envy turned to pity when it became clear that rapport was platonic. Samantha ended up dreading the classes, hating those pitying eyes she was given. It made her more determined to win back Daniel properly.

Unfortunately, she realised, Daniel was very much involved with Miranda, despite the fact they weren't sleeping together. He liked her a lot and mentioned her frequently. Every time he did, it was a knife in Samantha's stomach. She had tried everything she could think of to get Daniel by her side and it was clear he was still attracted to her, but he had no intention of doing anything about it, or even admitting it to himself. He was happy with Miranda – or at least content. Samantha _knew_ she could make Daniel happier, _knew_ they were meant to be together, but she didn't know what else to do…

Daniel was aware of the growing attraction between him and Samantha. He had been spending a lot of time with her – a lot of that in very close proximity to her, thanks to the exercises they did in the pre-natal classes – and they had become very close, almost as close as they had been before their disastrous night together.

And it was at the expense of his relationship with Miranda. Being a mere male, he didn't realise Samantha's contrivances to have him with her were a deliberate ploy to make him spend more time with her and less time with Miranda. All he knew was that Miranda was starting to complain about the amount of time he was spending with Samantha. "I know she's pregnant and I'm not trying to deprive you of time with your child, but Daniel, we hardly see each other," she had told him more then once.

And then there was the little matter of sex. As in, they hadn't done it yet. With the pressures of his workload and the pregnancy, it was easy to always be too tired, too distracted. Until it dawned on him that he was procrastinating. And he forced himself to commit time to Miranda.

One morning he spoke to Samantha at the mountain. There weren't any plans – not visits to the obstetrician, no pre-natal classes – for the day, and Daniel wanted to keep it that way. "I really need to spend some quality time with Miranda," he said, "and I don't want to be interrupted. So – if you need anything… can you call Janet?" He felt like a cad for asking such a thing, but he didn't know how well it would go down with Miranda if Samantha interrupted yet another night they'd planned for themselves.

Samantha remained stoic, even though her heart was breaking insight. _Quality time._ Did that meant they were finally going to do the deed? Samantha felt sick. She wanted to hunt Miranda down and scratch her eyes out, but outwardly she smiled. "OK," she agreed in a small voice, her plans to call Daniel complaining of being tired and bored dashed. It wasn't hard to sound disappointed; she _was_ disappointed, deeply so.

She made it to her office and cried in private. Her plans had failed. Daniel didn't want her, or, if he did, he was pretending he didn't, which was almost as bad and amounted to the same thing.

She made it through the day painfully, all smiles and pretending that her heart wasn't breaking, like she didn't want to burst into hysterical tears and kill Miranda Jacobs. Bailing at the earliest time possible – it was amazing how good an excuse pregnancy was for such things – she made her way home, dropping the facade as soon as she got into her car.

When she got home, ignoring all that she knew about pregnant woman not drinking, she poured herself a stiff bourbon.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Daniel and Miranda were making out on his bed. From early on in the evening, when Daniel had promised Miranda his complete attention all night, it had been clear what was expected to happen. They had been officially together for two months, and casually seeing each other for a month before that, ever since Daniel had come back from P4X-261, and not yet had sex. Daniel kept making excuses; there is a space after a semicolon but not in front of it he decided that tonight was the night.

He had chalked up his procrastinating to his terrible previous experience, but as the night wore on, his gut feeling grew stronger and stronger. It wasn't that he didn't want to have sex. It was that he didn't want to have sex with Miranda.

It wasn't a lack of attraction. He knew he was attracted to her, had known that from their first kisses. It was just that, despite himself, he was attracted to someone else more. Intellectually, emotionally, sexually.

He wanted to be with Samantha and he hated himself for it. He should have known better, should have been able to forget about her after she had humiliated him on P4X-261, but he couldn't. The time he'd spent with her had just made him more and more aware of how attracted to her he was, of how deeply in love with her he was.

Damn him. Damn _her_. He had a vauge idea she'd been planning this all along. Damn women, he didn't know what they were up to until it was too late.

Slowly he became aware that Miranda was rubbing him through his pants and the sensation was more irritating then pleasurable because of his train of thought. To his absolute horror, he realised he'd been thinking about Samantha while Miranda had been attempting to elicit a hard-on out of him. He was doing the same thing to her that Samantha had done to him.

He pushed her away. "I can't do this," he said in a hoarse, very guilty voice.

"Can't have sex?" Miranda asked. She'd expected Daniel to be nervous, his last experience with sex had been less then ideal, but this was ridiculous. It was like he had no interested in sex whatsoever. She bit her lip. Or maybe that was just no interest in sex _with her_.

"I can't do… this relationship," he admitted. He forced himself to look her in the eye and shame and remorse were reflected clearly in them. "I'm so sorry, Miranda. I really do like you. I just –"

She jumped off the bed. "No, I get it, I really do," she muttered angrily. "You'd rather be with her."

He didn't try to lie. "I'm sorry," he said.

She supposed she should have seen in coming. In time, she would forgive him, but for the moment she was angry. Angry at him for not seeing that he was in love with another woman, angry at herself for not seeing it. For the moment, it was easier to be angry with him. "Go to hell, Daniel," she snapped, making a quick exit, leaving Daniel feeling very remorseful and very stupid.

But at least his choice was a lot easier to make now.

He showered and changed and pondered if he should see Samantha tonight or sleep on it. To hell with it, he wouldn't be able to sleep. And he had a key to Samantha's house, he could just let himself in. If she was sleeping he could leave her be. If she was awake and up for a talk –

He left his building and got in his car, headed for Samantha's house. They had a lot to talk about.

-------------------------------------------------------

One drink had turned into another, and before she knew it, Samantha had drunk most of the bottle. As she drank, she got more and more upset. Thoughts of Daniel and Miranda together filled her head, and the drunker she got, the more graphic her thoughts got. Daniel and Miranda in bed. Daniel and Miranda thrashing around. She remembered just how much of an accomplished lover Daniel was. She bet, without drugs or alcohol slowing him down, he was spectacular.

And it was all for Miranda. _Bitch. _

She was so lost in her drunken thoughts that she didn't hear the front door open, didn't hear footsteps in the hall, didn't realise anyone was in her house until Daniel was in her kitchen, taking in the scene. Samantha, barely able to sit in her chair. A bottle of bourbon that he was pretty sure had been sealed this morning that was now nearly empty.

"What the hell have you done?" he asked, all thoughts of having a heart-to-heart forgotten about as he realised just how drunk Samantha was. It wasn't healthy for _anyone_ to get that drunk, let alone a pregnant woman. Did she know that?

Samantha turned to Daniel, too drunk to care how angry he was at her. "Finished with your whore?" she asked bitterly.

"What I do in my own time is none of your goddamn business," Daniel snapped. "You're drunk."

Samantha laughed bitterly. "How fucking observant," she said, going to pour herself another drink. It was more observant then he had been of her feelings.

Daniel snatched the bottle away. She pulled away from him, then threw her empty glass at his head. She had terrible aim, and it smashed against the wall behind him. "GIVE ME MY BOURBON!" she screamed at him.

"No. What the hell do you think you're doing? You're pregnant."

"Wow, your powers of observation are just spot on tonight, aren't they, Danny-boy?" Samantha asked. "I'm surprised you even noticed, you haven't noticed anything else in the last two months." If Daniel wouldn't give her back her bourbon, she had plenty more stuff in the liquor cabinet. She wasn't too fussy at this point.

"Over my dead body are you having another drink," Daniel raged when he realised what she was going to do. "Have a shower, go to bed."

"Go to hell. Or better yet, go back to your whore. I'm sure she's wondering where you are."

"Don't call Miranda that."

"I can call her whatever I damn well please. All you care about is her. You don't care about me."

"Why the hell do you think I'm here?" Daniel asked.

"Because you have an obligation." She reached for a bottle of vodka, and Daniel forcibly removed it from her hand and pulled her away from the liquor cabinet. She hit him, hard, and because he was in close enough proximity, she landed a heavy blow. She glared at him with hate in her eyes. Hate – and heartbreak.

He kissed her. She pushed him away. He pulled her close into him and she was too uncoordinated to struggle out of his hold. He was kissing her hard and, even though she hated him and was convinced he'd slept with Miranda, she kissed him back. The world was spinning around her, but she groaned when she felt Daniel's hands sliding under her shirt roughly, possessively – lustfully. He wanted her.

Where an evening with Miranda hadn't been able to get him hard, a few seconds of kissing Samantha had. Blind to everything but the raging desire he felt, Daniel pulled Samantha onto the floor. She landed roughly, but she didn't care. With barely a pause, they were making out on the floor of her living room, their hands all over each other, their clothes coming off in a display of pent-up attraction that had finally become too obvious for them to ignore.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four 

Grunting, Daniel slipped a hand under Samantha's shirt to feel her slightly swollen stomach. It had an instantly sobering effect, not that he was the one blind drunk. He scrambled to his feet. "Get up," he ordered Samantha in a cold voice.

She looked at him wide-eyed, barely comprehending his sudden change in demeanour. Thirty seconds ago, he'd been all over her. Now he'd lost all interest. Not just lost interest – was looking at her in contempt. "Get back down here," she ordered, raising her head for a few seconds behind light-headedness got the better of her and she dropped it back down to the floor with a force that would have been painful, had she not been so drunk.

He was furious with her and disgusted with himself. Kneeling down, he slipped one arm around her back, under her shoulders and yanked her to her feet roughly. "Didn't realise you liked it so rough, Danny-boy," Samantha slurred.

"Shut up," he growled. He thought he'd been angry with her after she'd called him Jack. That had been nothing compared to now. He hauled her into the bathroom.

"This isn't the bedroom," she pointed out the obvious.

"Clever girl." He forced her onto her knees in front of the toilet bowl. "Throw up," he ordered.

"Make me," Samantha challenged. "You know, while I'm on my knees…" she propositioned him.

Sighing, Daniel dropped to his knees behind her. She was going to make him do this the hard way. Securing her against him with one arm, he used his free hand to force his fingers down her throat. Gagging, she threw up over him and the toilet bowl.

The first wave brought on more as her body finally rejected the vast amounts of alcohol she'd consumed that night and for a good ten minutes she threw up while Daniel cleaned himself up. Finally, her stomach felt empty and she slumped against the tiles. She suddenly felt very sick. "Wanna go to bed," she whispered, and she wasn't talking about sex.

"I'm taking you to hospital," Daniel said firmly. He wet a hand towel and wiped her mouth.

"No. Bed." Samantha struggled to sit up.

Daniel heaved her into his arms, not bothering to be gentle. Samantha yelped at the brutish treatment. Daniel didn't care. He couldn't believe she could be so stupid, so selfish. "Like hell I'm letting you go to sleep with a bottle of bourbon and God knows what else in you system," he said harshly. "What else have you taken?"

"Nothing." Daniel didn't believe her, and even if it _had_ just been the bourbon, that was a hell of a lot of alcohol for anyone to drink, let alone a pregnant woman. He carried her out of the bathroom while she struggled. This was definitely not turning out as she'd wanted. It had all been going so well, the kiss and then the floor and then _this_. He was holding her like he would hold a crate of books, not at all loverly. "Either fuck me or fuck off," Samantha growled, thinking her choice of words was rather witty.

Daniel winced. He had always hated that particularly euphemism. He knew all the pressure points; He was very tempted to knock her out. It would make his job a whole lot easier, but he didn't want her losing consciousness.

He wished he didn't care so much. Well, after tonight, he wouldn't be making _that_ mistake again. He couldn't believe he'd bailed out of a perfectly good relationship for someone who thought it was a good idea to drink herself into oblivion. He realised that maybe it had been a good thing he'd bailed on Miranda. Who knew what state Samantha would have ended up in if she'd been left to her own devices for the rest of the night? His heart churned at the thought and he hated himself for it. Samantha had clearly demonstrated she wasn't worth it.

Well, that was something he would deal with in the morning. Right now he had a more urgent issue to deal with. Awkwardly, because he was used to carrying inanimate objects, not fully grown women who were determined to escape his hold, he got Samantha out of the house and into her car. He decided to take her car because if she threw up, it would be _her _cleaning bill.

He made the right choice. Without warning, she threw up another three times on the way to hospital. He was glad it wasn't his car, although he would have to drive this one back to her house. At least he could take consolation from the fact she must have rid her body of a fair amount of alcohol by now.

He got her to the hospital and half-carried, half-dragged her into the emergency ward. Fortunately, a pregnant woman with suspected alcohol poisoning ranked a high priority so she was seen quickly.

After seeing her and running some tests, the doctor – a woman named Charlotte Beaumont – diagnosed Samantha with alcohol poisoning – not as bad as it could have been, thanks to Daniel's quick thinking – but a cause for concern nonetheless. She ordered for Samantha's stomach to be pumped, for her blood to be tested for any other drugs, and then for an ultrasound. While that was being done, she spoke with Daniel.

"You found her like that?" Dr. Beaumont asked.

Daniel nodded. "I was out – we're not together," he added absently. "I hadn't meant to go over at all but I did – oh, God," he said. "Is the baby going to be OK?"

Beaumont noticed Daniel didn't ask about Samantha. It was a very angry man she was speaking to. "We'll see when we do the ultrasound, but it's most likely," she reassured Daniel. "There isn't usually damage done from one single event – unless she's done this before?" Beaumont asked.

Daniel shook his head. "At least, not that I know of," he added. He didn't think it was in Samantha's character to be drinking every night – let alone drinking heavily – while she was pregnant, but he hadn't thought it was in her character to get blind drunk _at all_ while she was pregnant.

The poor man, he looked half out of his mind with worry. Beaumont wondered what had possessed Samantha to drink so much. But then, as a doctor, she'd never understood what possessed _anyone_ to drink so much, pregnant or not. Wasn't there a point when you thought, enough was enough? With some people, apparently not.

After Samantha's stomach was pumped for the remaining alcohol in her body and a blood test taken that showed she had taken nothing but lots of bourbon, Beaumont had an ultrasound done on an unconscious Samantha which showed the baby was fine. Daniel almost cried with relief. Now that he knew his child was OK, he started to shake as a result of being so tightly wound up for the past few hours. "Would you like to stay with Doctor Carter, Doctor Jackson?" Beaumont offered kindly.

Daniel shook his head. Now that he knew his child was alright, he couldn't stand to be in the same room as Samantha. He was seriously wondering what kinds of pain he could inflict on her without hurting the baby and that meant it was time to leave. "I'm going home," he said. "You can tell her I'll see her sometime tomorrow."

He left the hospital and drove back to Samantha's house. He couldn't even bear to enter the house, be in the kitchen where she could have drunk herself to death, the living room where he'd nearly taken her like an animal, the bathroom where he'd forced her to throw up. He left Samantha's car in the driveway and drove his own home.

A few hours before, and he'd been with Miranda. What a stupid decision _that_ had been, to call things off with Miranda so he could sort things out with Samantha. He wished he could have fallen in love with Miranda. It would have made things so much easier. He hated himself for being such a glutton for punishment.

He was exhausted, but he couldn't sleep. He lay awake all night, thinking about what Samantha had done. It scared him deeply that a few more hours and it might have been too late. It had been sheer luck that he'd dropped by. Which brought him back to his main thought – _why had she done it?_

_Because she's a selfish bitch_, came the inevitable answer. He didn't doubt that she wanted this baby, but whether she was prepared to do what it took – well, clearly not, given her actions tonight. Women who wanted children did not get blind drunk. There had been so much research and education done to that effect in the last ten years, how could Samantha _not_ have known? How could she have been so stupid, so selfish?

Clearly, she wasn't the woman he knew, or had thought he loved.

The next morning, having had no sleep, Daniel returned to the hospital, none of his anger dissipated, although he was relieved when Beaumont informed him that Samantha, and their baby, were going to be fine. "No harm done," the doctor said, although she didn't entirely believe it, and she could tell Daniel didn't. There had been no harm done because Daniel had gotten there in time, not because Samantha had acted responsibly or selflessly.

Samantha woke up to find that everything hurt. Her stomach, her head, her entire body made her wish she could crawl into a dark space and die. Things could _not_ get worse then this.

And then Daniel entered her room an hour later and her heart fell. He looked furious. She couldn't remember much of last night, only that she'd drunk a hell of a lot and Daniel had come over. Beaumont had informed her Daniel had brought her in with alcohol poisoning; her heart fell a little more. If she'd drunk as much as she remembered, she would have given herself alcohol poisoning. She knew it was a minor miracle that nothing had happened to the baby. She vaguely remembered Daniel forcing her to throw up last night. She had thrown up a _lot_. She was grateful he had thought so quickly, although Daniel didn't look very receptive to any gratitude right now.

"I've signed you out, I'll take you home," Daniel said coolly. His blue eyes flashed with anger – and betrayal. A thousand bitter words were on the tip of his tongue, all of which he chocked back. He didn't want to get into an argument with Samantha right now, he was afraid he'd lose it and either hit her or start crying.

"Daniel, I –" she began.

He cut her off. "Get dressed and I'll take you home. Five minutes or you can find your own way home."

His voice was cold. She contemplating telling him what he could do with his lift if he was going to be so mean about it, but she knew he had a right to be mean and besides, she didn't want to call anyone _else_ for a lift, it would involve explaining why she was in hospital. She was getting enough bad vibes from the hospital stuff, who were trained to be open-minded about whatever their patients did to get into hospital. She didn't want the judgement of her friends and colleagues.

She got dressed under his caustic look. She felt terrible and Daniel's bad vibes weren't helping. After having a talk with Doctor Beaumont – who couldn't stress enough the stupidity of her actions and warn her against doing anything like it again – Daniel led her through the hospital to the parking lot. Or, rather, Daniel strode along quickly and Samantha was forced to almost run just to keep up.

For ten minutes there was complete silence in the car. Daniel wasn't going to start a conversation, so Samantha ventured, "Last night –"

"Last night you got trashed out of your mind," Daniel cut in. "You could have killed yourself. You could have killed our _baby_. Goddamit, Sam, if you didn't want it, you should have said so when you had the option of having an abortion."

His words cut deeply. _Abortion?_ "That wasn't my intention," she said.

Daniel laughed bitterly. _Could have fooled me. _"Then what was?" he asked. "What makes a pregnant woman think, oh, drinking an entire bottle of bourbon is a good idea?"

"I thought you were with Captain Jacobs," Samantha said in a small voice, knowing what a lame excuse that was.

"_So_?" Daniel asked incredibly. "The fact I was spending the night with my girlfriend is such a big deal? It wasn't like I was cheating on you," he reminded her.

"If you were spending the night with her, why did you come over?" Samantha couldn't help but ask.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I couldn't go through with it. I couldn't use her like that. Unlike some people, I actually _care_ about hurting the people I sleep with."

"Is that why you came over?" Samantha asked. "To see me?" Daniel didn't answer, but she took his stony silence for an answer. If he hadn't come over to declare his love for her, then he wouldn't be denying it. _He was in love with her!_

Then she realised that if he had been in love with her last night, he certainly wasn't now. He had come to tell her he was in love with her, and found her trashed out of her mind. And he was angry. He was right, she could have died, or miscarried. It had been an insanely stupid thing to do. Her remorse was heightened by the fact that she had been drowning sorrows that didn't need to be drowned. If she hadn't been such an idiot, she and Daniel could be making out right now.

"I'm sorry," she said for the umpteenth time. She really hadn't meant to drink as much as she had. But one drink had become two, which had become three, and no matter how much she drank, she couldn't get the image out of her head of Daniel with Captain Jacobs, so she had drunk some more.

He glared at her – the first time he'd looked her directly in the eye. "Don't you _dare_ think you can get out of this by apologising," he snapped. "I don't want to hear it. I don't want anything to do with you right now. You were stupid, irresponsible, selfish – what you did to me, calling me Jack, that was bad enough. I'm an adult and I can get over a few words. But what you did last night – _you could have killed our child, Sam!_ How could you have been so goddamn irresponsible?"

She stared out the window. She had no answer for Daniel's question. She _had_ been irresponsible. Oh, God, how could she have been so irresponsible? She felt sick just thinking about it and she didn't think it was because of all the alcohol she'd consumed. She felt deep remorse for her actions, and guilt about what could have happened.

Daniel stopped the car outside Samantha's house but didn't bother to kill the engine. He had no intention of staying. "Out," he ordered in a low growl.

"Don't you want to come in?" she asked in a small voice. "We can talk."

"There's nothing to talk about," Daniel said coolly. "I _can_ trust you not to hit the liquor cabinet, can't it?" he asked sarcastically.

Tears pricked her eyes. She should be used to it. The last three months had taught her how mean Daniel could be when he was hurt, but everytime he gave her the sharp side of his tongue, it made her want to cry. "We're _married_, Daniel," she reminded him desperately. "I'm _carrying_ your child."

"I can rectify that, you just have to sign the papers," Daniel snapped. "And if you'd had your way, you wouldn't be pregnant. Out. Now. Do you really want your neighbours saying how I dragged you out and dumped you on the lawn?"

There was a dangerous glint in his eyes that told Samantha he wouldn't hesitate in doing just that. Reluctantly, she got out of the car. The door had barely shut when Daniel took off, leaving a very sorry Samantha watching his retreating car, feeling like the world had come to an end, and it was all her fault.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day, Daniel found Miranda in her office. She was lost in a manuscript she was translating. For a few seconds, he watched her. He'd always loved the way she was so involved in her work, especially since her work was something he was passionate about. It used to be the biggest turn on to watch his pretty girlfriend lost in the joys of language. He regretted deeply that he hadn't been able to commit to her. It would have made things so much easier.

He knocked softly on the door and she looked up, startled out of her reverie. "You willing to speak to me or do you want me to go away?" he asked sheepishly. He knew he'd hurt her and if she told him to go to hell, it was no more then he deserved.

She had thought long and hard about the way things had ended and she decided that she couldn't hold his feelings against him. She believed that he had never lied to her. He had just been confused about his emotions when it came to Major Carter – and if she had been honest with herself, Miranda would have seen that.

And to his credit, he had bailed _before_ they had slept together. That said a lot to Miranda. That, and he looked pretty rattled, and she didn't have it in her to turn a friend away when he needed her. "Things not go so well with Major Carter?" she asked.

Relieved that Miranda wasn't going to throw him out, Daniel shut the door behind him. "I don't want to talk about that," he said stiffly, when it was obvious that he did. "I just wanted to see if you're all right."

"You mean to see if I'm still jacked off that you dumped me?" Miranda offered bluntly. Daniel looked sheepish. "It's OK, Daniel. I mean… I had a feeling you had feelings for her, and I chose to ignore that. So… I kinda got what I deserved."

Daniel dropped into the chair opposite Miranda's. "It was my fault," he said. "I really did – _do _– like you, Miranda. I just…" he sighed and put his head in his hands. "It's always been my problem that I can be in love with two women at the same time."

"But you love her more," Miranda added astutely.

"I wish I didn't."

"What did she do?" Miranda asked.

Daniel looked up and there were tears welling in his eyes. Miranda realised this was about more then just her calling him Jack. He had more or less gotten over that, enough that he was willing to give it another go. No, this was something new. "She was _drunk_, Miranda, trashed out of her mind," Daniel said. "She had a whole bottle of bourbon."

Miranda looked aghast. "Are you _joking?_" she asked. It seemed like a pretty obscure joke, but the alternative was that he was telling the truth and that was selfish, even for Major Carter.

Daniel shook his head morosely. "Wish I was," he muttered.

"How is the baby? How is _she_?" Miranda asked.

"They're both fine," Daniel said dully. For the last day he'd been thinking about it,and his anger towards Samantha had not dissipated. How could he have been so wrong about her? How could he have been so stupid? Sleeping with her in the first place, then letting himself believe they could be happy together, that she was capable of being selfless and supportive.

He was a first-class chump. He had been naive, a fool… he started to cry in earnest. If Miranda had had any ill-feeling towards Daniel before, it was completely gone now. It was hard to hate someone who looked so unhappy. She walked around her desk and sat next to Daniel, pulling him gently into her arms. He didn't resist and he seemed to take comfort out of her embrace.

For a few minutes she held him while he cried and then he drew away. "Thanks," he said, sniffling. "You've been really good about this."

She smiled ruefully. "No problem. Do you have any idea what you're going to do?"

Daniel's eyes looked distant. "I don't know," he admitted. "I love her, but –"

"I know," Miranda said. She felt a little about Daniel the way he did about Samantha, so she could relate to wanting to be in a relationship with someone, but not at any cost. "I guess that's up to you. I'm here if you want to talk… as a friend," she offered.

Daniel smiled wanly. God, how he wished he could love Miranda the way he loved Samantha. If he could physically will his heart into changing, he would. "Thanks," he said. "I think I'll go and… do some paperwork."

"Paperwork is mind-numbing," Miranda said, although she had a feeling that was Daniel's intention.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took another four days for Daniel to feel sufficiently calmed down that he could talk to Samantha without wanting to hit her. That she was pregnant helped curb his violent urges – although it was her pregnancy that had him so angry in the first place.

"Tell me honestly, Sam," he said when he walked into her office unannounced. He wasn't in the mood for being polite. "Do you want this baby? Because there might still be options, but not for much longer."

Samantha stared at him. It was quite clear was he was talking about, even if he didn't use the word. When he'd mentioned abortion in the car the other day, she'd thought it was something he'd said in the heat of the moment. She hadn't realised he was serious. "I'm not having an abortion!" she said indignantly. "I want this baby, Daniel."

He stared at her. "Then why did you drink a bottle of bourbon?" he asked. "I'm not going to yell at you, Sam, I don't want to fight. I just think your values are pretty screwed up if you could do something like that."

"I told you, I –" she started.

"Yeah, yeah, you were jealous about Miranda and I," he cut in. "I got that. That doesn't change how stupid and irresponsible you were."

She stared silently at the floor, chafing under his words. And she couldn't argue with them, either, because he was telling the truth. Jealousy had been a stupid reason to drink, especially when she'd had no claim to Daniel and endangering her life, and the life of her child, had been stupid and irresponsible. "I'm not going to do that again," she said. "You need to believe that."

"I didn't think you were capable of doing such a thing in the first place, Sam," Daniel said softly. "I don't know what to believe when it comes to you anymore. You said you wanted to be with me. You said you wanted our baby – what the hell do you really want, Sam?"

"I want you. I want this baby," she said, and she meant it, although it was clear Daniel didn't believe her.

"I really want to believe you, Sam, but I can't," Daniel said. "These last three months, you've done nothing to convince me there's any chance for us and everything to convince me there's not. Do you think I'm going to risk my heart a third time?"

Of course he wouldn't. Daniel was a romantic, but not stupid. _Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me_. Daniel must be feeling very angry at himself right now. "Then what do you want to do?" she asked.

"I don't know. I can't make myself care about you – or this baby. I keep thinking the moment I do, you'll do something to prove I was naive to care."

"I won't!" Samantha cried, although she knew how empty a promise that sounded.

"Then we're at something of an impasse." Daniel's face was emotionless, although his mind was a tumult of emotion. Love. Hate. Anger, Disappointment. Desire. He remembered kissing her in her house and how badly he'd wanted to take her there and then. He steeled himself. He would not give into temptation. Not when he was feeling the way he was feeling, a big confusing mess of conflicting thoughts and feelings. "Sam, I can't do this right now. If you wanna keep the baby – that's great. I'll be at the next class. But I can't… _deal _right now." And with that he bolted from her office.

Samantha felt suddenly void of energy. Fighting with Daniel tended to do that to her. She leaned back in her chair to let Daniel's words soak in.

He didn't trust her. He had trusted her twice, and twice she had proven she deserved that trust. It was so unfair – he had got her at her lowest both times and he had nothing else to judge her on so he took those two times as the absolute truth. And now it was harder then ever to convince him that what he thought of her was nothing like what she was. She loved him, she loved their child, and she was going to see this pregnancy through as best as she could. What had happened that night had been a terrible lapse of judgement made at a low ebb, but _only_ a lapse of judgement and not a sign of a greater flawed personality.

But could she ever convince Daniel of that?

--------------------------------------------------------------------

A week went by and it was obvious to Miranda that Daniel was miserable. He was anxious because he didn't know what Samantha was going to do next and heartsick because he hated being so distrustful of someone who he couldn't help but love. More then once, Miranda had wondered to herself how Daniel could have such appalling taste in women and be such a glutton for punishment, but after a week, she decided it was a moot point. Daniel loved Samantha and, as distasteful a task as it was, knowing Daniel as she did, Miranda was probably the best person to offer Samantha a few insights.

Samantha's face drew into a frown when she saw Captain Jacobs standing in her doorway. She really needed to think about getting a lock and shades on the windows,. Too many people thought they could just barge in. "Whatever's up with you and Daniel, it's not my fault. I haven't spoken to him in a week," she said without looking up. She didn't know what the status of Daniel and Captain Jacob's relationship was, but if Jacobs was here to be the jealous girlfriend, Samantha had no time for her. She was feeling too heartsick over his aloof behaviour. He had come to a prenatal class with her, but held her at arm's length – sometimes literally. She had ended up snapping that he may as well have not come at all, which, of course, just made the situation worse. She had no idea what to do about Daniel and she doubted anything Jacobs had to say would make things better.

"I know it's not your fault. Daniel's been in love with you pretty much from day one and you couldn't help that," Miranda said, as charitably as she could manage, although mentally she tacked on, _you could certainly have been more appreciative_. She hadn't come here to fight with Samantha, as tempting as that was. "I came to tell you you're making him miserable."

"_I'm_ making him miserable?" Samantha asked incredulously. "_He's_ the one acting like he's doing me a great service having anything to do with me."

"That's 'coz he is," Miranda said bluntly. "You haven't exactly made him feel like you want him – or your baby. That's why I came here. Do you want to make him come back to you?"

Samantha looked at Miranda curiously. Was she offering her _help_? Or was she just setting Samantha up to be the butt of a cruel joke? Samantha decided to take her chance. She nodded slowly.

It was the response Miranda had been expecting. Although she thought Samantha didn't deserve Daniel, she thought there was something there, feelings of love that the Major, however selfish she might be, had for Daniel. Samantha was in love with Daniel and sorry things had ended up the way they had. She wanted help getting herself out of this deep hole she'd dug. "Then you have to give him time. You can't apologise and expect he'll come running back. You humiliated him when you called him Jack and if that wasn't bad enough, just when he was ready to forgive you for _that_, you nearly kill yourself – and Daniel's child – by getting blind drunk. No, apologising isn't going to achieve anything. Talk is cheap. You have to show him you're serious about him and your child. Your behaviour has to be unimpeachable. You have to be a model mother-to-be – if you achieve that, he might give you the chance to be a model friend and if you achieve that, then maybe – _maybe_ – he'll give you the chance to be a model wife. Eat right, keep healthy, and don't stress yourself with too much work. If you're tired, tell him, I'm sure he'll be happy to take on some of your workload. Swallow your goddamn pride. _Ask _for his help. If he wants to be friends, then be friends. Don't push the relationship; you'll scare him off. If your marriage with Daniel is ever going to work, at this point, you have to let him set the agenda. Maybe you'll only ever get to friends, or parents and if that happens, you've got no-one to blame but yourself. But if he comes back to you, it'll be because you gave him space and proved that you could be trusted. Anything else will achieve nothing. It will probably only serve to drive him further away."

Miranda took a deep breath. It had taken her several minutes to get through that little rant, during which time Samantha hadn't said anything. She would never admit it to the Captain, of course, but what she was saying made sense. Pursuing Daniel would achieve nothing but push him away. The only chance she had of getting him back was proving, without asking for anything in return, that she could be a good mother, a good friend, a good wife.

To Captain Jacobs she simply said, in her most professional voice, "Thank you. I'll take that into consideration. You may go now." She hadn't meant to come across so rude, but she didn't want to deal with Daniel's ex – no matter how helpful her words were. If she and Daniel ever got back together, she'd thank the woman then, but for now, she wanted to be alone.

Miranda left Samantha's office wondering if she'd made any impact. Well, if she hadn't, she was going to learn the hard way that trying to force a reconciliation wouldn't achieve anything. Miranda had done the best she could. The rest was up to Samantha.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Over the next month, bringing her pregnancy to four months – she was starting to show quite obviously – Samantha took Miranda's advice. She requested even her paperwork load to be cut back so she would have more time for rest and relaxation. She knew the little amount of work she was doing would mean a nightmare of a catchup down the track, but she knew it would be worth it. She spent a lot of time just pottering around the house – if she wasn't sleeping – and catching up on all the books she'd meant to read over the course of her life. She couldn't believe how intellectually stimulating doing nothing could be. She even started on some of the classics that Daniel loved so much. He had a particular affinity for Tolstoy, which Samantha thought was unfair, because she was _sure_ something had been lost in the translation and she just knew he'd read it in the original Russian. found herself getting into _War and Peace_, which, as a bonus, gave her something to talk about with Daniel. She liked the way he looked at her with new respect that she was broadening her intellectual horizons.

She got tired easily these days, nothing unusual given she was pregnant, and pregnant at forty, and she found given the slightest encouragement, Daniel was there to put her to bed or do household chores for her. When he saw she was serious about the pregnancy, he spoke to her with more warmth and held her a little more intimately in the prenatal classes.

She had attempted to learn how to cook in a bid to eat healthily, although she wasn't making much headway. She and cooking were just mutually exclusive. One night Daniel dropped by to see her forcing her way through overcooked rice, dried-out fish (what, exactly, was the difference between bake and fan-bake?) and some chopped-up vegetables that he assumed was supposed to pass for a salad. She looked absolutely miserable as she shovelled food into her mouth.

Daniel gently took the fork from her and tasted it and had trouble swallowing even a mouthful. He supposed he should give Samantha credit for trying to eat healthily (he had his doubts that airforce rations were nutritious even for a healthy adult, let alone an unborn feutus) but he didn't realise someone could wreck such a simple meal so badly.

"Do not take another bite, I do not want my child thinking such muck is food," he said, but his tone was playful. So what if cooking wasn't Samantha's forte? She was good at plenty of other things. "You just sit back and I'll see what I can do."

See what he could do, indeed. He couldn't believe how empty Samantha's cupboard was of all but the most basic spices – "What's saffron?" she had asked. He made a mental note to educate her on such things. But in the meantime, he put together something that was a vast improvement on the nutritious, tasteless pap Samantha had made for herself.

She took one bite and her eyes went round. She made a few sounds which were incomprehensible because her mouth was full, but Daniel took it to be gratitude. She started out trying to take small bites, but ended up shovelling food into her mouth. "Glad to know you like it," he said, a smirk playing on his face.

She paused from shovelling food into her mouth. "It's terrific!" she said enthusiastically, although, in all fairness, it wasn't that hard to improve on her cooking.

"I'll come over tomorrow with real ingredients, then," he said, "if you'd like." That Samantha had made the effort, however disastrous, to eat properly meant a lot to him. He was only too happy to improve on the results when the effort was already there.

She smiled in delight. "Really?" she asked, her eyes dreamy at the thought of an end to her miserable attempts to cook.

His eyes sparkled. It was good to be appreciated. It had been a while since he'd felt that from Samantha. "Yeah, really," he said, and already he was thinking of all the things he could make.

She followed Miranda's advice, first proving to Daniel that she could be a perfectly good mother, and he responded exactly as Miranda had predicted. He took care of her. He kept her company, he did her chores and her paperwork when she felt tired, and he cooked exquisite meals for her once he'd been given the slightest encouragement. In the process, she proved she could be a perfectly good friend – no, not _proved_, but _reminded_. They became closer then they had in several years, since before she had become infatuated with Jack.

_Jack_. What a laugh _that _was. Once Jack had cottoned onto the convoluted mess that was Samantha and Daniel's relationship – he'd been insightful enough to realise Samantha was pining for Daniel – he'd switched off completely. Because she was grounded for at least the duration of her pregnancy, she saw very little of him and what she did see of him was strictly professional and a little distant. Samantha was a little apprehensive about returning to SG1 because it was unlikely she and Jack could ever re-establish their early rapport. Maybe, like Daniel, she would have to transfer.

No mention of Jack was made between Samantha and Daniel, except when talk of the Stargate program came up. Neither of them were interested in talking about it. Until one day, completely out of the blue, Daniel asked, "Why did you do it, Sam? Sleep with me when you really wanted Jack?"

Samantha thought carefully, aware that this could be make-or-break. If she couldn't get her feelings across, couldn't convince Daniel that Jack had been nothing but an infatuation, then all could be lost. Daniel would retreat to being a friend and the father of her child – but not her husband. She grimly reminded herself that she had maybe eight months until Daniel saw fit to ask for divorce. The only reason they had remained married was that it didn't seem right to bring their child into the world out of wedlock when they were already married. She figured she had the remaining five months of her pregnancy, then two of three after that. If she couldn't make him her husband at heart as well as on paper then when that eight months was up, that was it. He would leave.

"I worshipped Jack," she admitted. "I think it was that he was so unattainable – we were both military, and he was my CO. I guess that's why I never noticed you, because you _were_ attainable and that was kind of scary."

"I don't understand," Daniel said. "I don't get how you could be so reluctant to fall in love with someone."

"That's 'coz you're not a woman in the military," Samantha pointed out gently. "If I had gotten involved with you, it would have been like a work relationship, with everyone talking about us all the time, only much worse."

Daniel nodded. _That_ he understood. The military was such a patriarchal system. Women had to prove themselves twice as much to get something resembling the same amount of respect. The few women at Cheyenne Mountain who had gotten involved with men had become a constant source of gossip, much more then their boyfriends. He couldn't really blame Samantha for wanting to avoid that and thinking along those lines, he kind of understood her infatuation with Jack. It didn't take away from his humiliation, nothing ever would, but it made it easier to forgive her.

"… It really was some warped force of habit, a reflex" Samantha said sincerely, hoping Daniel accepted as the truth what she conceded sounded like a really dumb excuse. "I know nothing will take away from how you must have felt – and I _am_ sorry about that – but for what it's worth, until that point, I was only thinking about you. It was never about Jack."

For some reason, he believed her. The last month, she had reminded him of what a great friendship they had had – and still had. He realised her getting drunk, as disastrous as it could have been, had been a one-of, her acting out because, of all things, she had been jealous of Miranda. He couldn't help but feeling a little flattered about _that_.

The last month had reminded him of a lot of things, namely, how deeply in love with Samantha he was. As fond of Miranda and as attracted to her as he had been, he had been fooling himself to think things could work between them. Not when Samantha was there. And Miranda must have known that, or else she wouldn't have let him go so easily. Christ, he was so glad they had never slept together. He would never have been able to forgive himself for that.

The truth was, he loved Samantha to distraction. There was no way around that. After the drinking episode, he had hated her for her selfishness and irresponsibility and had been too prideful to consider a relationship with her, but this last month – this last month had been paradise. It was everything he had ever wanted from Samantha, minus the romantic relationship and despite himself, he couldn't help thinking how easy that would be to rectify.

"What are you thinking about?" Samantha asked shyly, aware that Daniel had retreated into some deep thought. He did that a lot, she had noticed. She hoped it was a good sign.

"It doesn't matter," he said, trying not to be distracted by her mouth. God, he wanted to kiss her.

"I'm not going to push you," she said, remembering Miranda's words. It occurred to her that the Captain must really have cared for Daniel to offer such sound advice to someone she didn't like much. "But I like to think we're friends, so if you want to talk…"

"You broke my heart, you know," Daniel said quietly. He hadn't meant to bring that up, didn't think he was ready to talk about it, but it had just… come out. "I _knew_ what they gave us was screwing with our inhibitions, I _knew_ you wouldn't just jump into bed with me if it wasn't for that, but… I never thought you could be so screwed up about your feelings, that you didn't know who you wanted to be with, me or Jack. At least not while you were in bed with me."

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. How many times had she apologised in the last four months? Not enough, it would never be enough. She could never take Daniel's humiliation away from him. But maybe, if he gave her a chance, she could start to make it up to him. "It's up to you weather you believe me or not, but for what it's worth, I do love you and if I could do all this over – well, for starter's, I wouldn't have complained so much about marrying you and I certainly wouldn't have needed anything to go to bed with you."

Daniel sighed. "I really want to believe you, Sam," he said "but I don't know if I can trust you again."

Samantha wasn't sure what possessed her, but she went over to where Daniel was sitting and sat in his lap. Automatically his arms went around her swollen waist to secure her. "Then trust this," she said, and kissed him.

She _knew_ she hadn't imagined the chemistry between them, and her boldness was rewarded when Daniel kissed her back. And not just for a few seconds, either. For the better part of a minute, their mouths were locked together as they kissed hungrily. "Sam, Sam," Daniel murmured throatily as he ran his lips across her jawbone and down her neck.

Eventually they parted. "This just means I'm attracted to you," he said gruffly, like he could lie about the magnitude of his feelings.

Now that Samantha was more confident about how Daniel felt about her, she could afford to call him on his lies. "Crap," she told him. "You love me."

"I'm scared," was all she could get out of Daniel. "I don't think I can go through what you put me through again."

_I'm scared_ was good enough for Samantha. If he didn't love her, then he wouldn't be afraid of anything and she noticed that he was making no effort to remove her from his lap. If anything, he wrapped his arms around her a little tighter. She locked her arms around his neck. Now that she knew how Daniel felt about her, she could afford to take things slow. "How about we just see how it goes?" she suggested innocently, confident he just needed a little more time to realise he loved her – and trust that she loved him, and wasn't going to break his heart again. In fact, she'd spent the rest of their life together making up for it.

_How about we see how it goes?_ sounded like code for _I'll give you a little more time to come to the obvious conclusion_. But at least she was giving him that time. If there had ever been a point in the last month when she'd pushed him for commitment, it would have made him run for the hills. But the way she'd gone about it, quietly proving that she was trustworthy – he wondered if she'd planned it this way. "I'd like that," he admitted softly, and he leaned in to kiss her.

Kissing him back, something told her divorce wouldn't be on the cards.

**THE END**


End file.
